Development of High Strength Aluminum-Based Alloys for Laser Powder Bed Fusion

The main goal of the PhD project is to develop an innovative high strength Al alloy, feasible by powder metallurgy and suitable for Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF), with improved weldability and increased mechanical and corrosion resistance in comparison to cast grades Al alloys currently employed in Additive Manufacturing (AM). Development of the innovative aluminium alloy specifically designed for SLM will be mainly focused on two different aspects: on one hand, on tailoring the chemical composition to improve processability and/or mechanical response of well-established commercial aluminium alloys and, on the other hand, on defining the specific P/M processing of the raw powder material. Raw materials for L-PBF, produced in a powder form, will be obtained by atomization process or, alternatively, by a mixing procedure of different starting powders. A suitable heat treatment will be defined for the developed innovative Al alloy after its L-PBF processing. To optimize thermal treatments the project will consider the specific microstructural characteristics that L-PBF generates. L-PBF process development will be performed to ensure a defect free material manufacturing. A deep characterization of the new material will be carried out including mechanical, chemical and corrosion aspects. Afterwards the manufacturing process will be validated at component level.