Study of the properties of silicon bronze-based alloys printed using electron beam additive manufacturing technology

Introduction. Additive technologies make it possible to curb material expenses by reducing allowances for the final dimensional machining of workpieces. For such expensive materials as copper and copper alloys, this method is considerably attractive from a perspective of increasing resource efficiency in production. The operational properties of the C65500 alloy manufactured using additive technologies have not been fully studied and require additional research. The aim of the work is to study the structural and phase state, mechanical and operational properties of C65500 bronze specimens printed using electron beam additive manufacturing technology. In the work, specimens made of C65500 wire with different heat input values are studied, some of which were subjected to thermal treatment and mechanical processing, as well as specimens, manufactured using multi-wire technology. The work uses such research methods as the study of corrosion resistance of bronze specimens using a potentiostat, confocal laser scanning microscopy, friction tests and X-ray phase analysis. Results and discussion. Processing of specimens by plastic deformation (compression) and subsequent annealing leads to the most serious structural changes. Based on X-ray phase analysis, it is found that higher silicon content is observed in the case of the addition of silumins to bronze. The study of mechanical properties shows that the specimens, printed using multi-wire technology, have the highest strength properties. During tribological testing, fluctuations in the value of the friction coefficient are revealed, due to the scheme of the experiment and the combined adhesive-oxidative mechanism of specimens’ wear. The addition of 10 wt.% aluminum filament to bronze in the additive manufacturing process is an effective means for increasing the resistance of the material to electrochemical corrosion and increasing its wear resistance.