Comparative Residual Stress Evaluation in SLM 3D-printed Al-Si-Mg alloy (RS-300) Using the Contour Method, Hole Drilling Laser Speckle Interferometry, X-ray Diffraction and Xe pFIB-DIC Micro-ring-core Milling

SLM Additive Manufacturing has demonstrated great potential for aerospace applications when structural elements of individual design and/or complex shape need to be promptly supplied. 3D-printable AlSi10Mg (RS-300) alloy is widely used for the fabrication of different structures in aerospace industry. The importance of the evaluation of residual stresses that arise as a result of complex 3D-printing process thermal history is widely discussed in literature, but systematic assessment remains lacking for their magnitude, spatial distribution, and comparative analysis of different evaluation techniques. In this study we report the results of a systematic study of residual stresses in a 3D-printed double tower shaped samples using several approaches: the contour method, blind hole drilling laser speckle interferometry, X-ray diffraction, and Xe pFIB-DIC micro-ring-core milling analysis. We show that a high level of tensile and compressive residual stresses is inherited from SLM 3D-printing and retained for longer than 6 months. The stresses vary over a significant proportion of the material yield stress. All residual stress evaluation techniques considered returned comparable values of residual stresses even regardless of dramatically different dimensional scales from millimeters for the Contour Method down, laser speckle interferometry and XRD and down to small fractions of a mm (70 μm) for Xe pFIB-DIC ring-core drilling. The use of residual stress evaluation is discussed in the context of optimizing the printing strategy to enhance the mechanical performance and long-term durability.

[1]  A. Stwora,et al.  Residual Stresses of AlSi10Mg Fabricated by Selective Laser Melting (SLM) , 2023, Archives of Metallurgy and Materials.

[2]  S. Samuha,et al.  Influences of platform heating and post-processing stress relief treatment on the mechanical properties and microstructure of selective-laser-melted AlSi10Mg alloys , 2021, Materials Science and Engineering: A.

[3]  A. Salimon,et al.  On the Grain Microstructure–Mechanical Properties Relationships in Aluminium Alloy Parts Fabricated by Laser Powder Bed Fusion , 2021, Metals.

[4]  S. Dimov,et al.  Pulsed laser polishing of selective laser melted aluminium alloy parts , 2021, Applied Surface Science.

[5]  Bei He,et al.  A Review on Additive Manufacturing of Titanium Alloys for Aerospace Applications: Directed Energy Deposition and Beyond Ti-6Al-4V , 2021, JOM.

[6]  A. Korsunsky,et al.  In Situ SEM Study of the Micro-Mechanical Behaviour of 3D-Printed Aluminium Alloy , 2021, Technologies.

[7]  J. Buffière,et al.  Damage tolerant design of additively manufactured metallic components subjected to cyclic loading: State of the art and challenges. , 2021, Progress in materials science.

[8]  S. Beretta,et al.  Fatigue strength assessment of “as built” AlSi10Mg manufactured by SLM with different build orientations , 2020 .

[9]  Alexander M. Korsunsky,et al.  Advances in additive manufacturing process simulation: Residual stresses and distortion predictions in complex metallic components , 2020, Materials & Design.

[10]  P. Withers,et al.  pyCM: An open-source computational framework for residual stress analysis employing the Contour Method , 2020, SoftwareX.

[11]  R. Hague,et al.  3D printing of Aluminium alloys: Additive Manufacturing of Aluminium alloys using selective laser melting , 2019, Progress in Materials Science.

[12]  N. Mathe,et al.  The Effect of Stress Relief on the Mechanical and Fatigue Properties of Additively Manufactured AlSi10Mg Parts , 2019, Metals.

[13]  P. Withers,et al.  Plasma FIB Spin Milling for 3D Residual Stress Measurements , 2019, Microscopy and Microanalysis.

[14]  C. Biffi,et al.  Effect of Optimized Heat Treatments on the Tensile Behavior and Residual Stresses of Selective Laser Melted AlSi10Mg Samples , 2019, Key Engineering Materials.

[15]  Xiaodong Li,et al.  An overview of residual stresses in metal powder bed fusion , 2019, Additive Manufacturing.

[16]  F. Jiang,et al.  Modification of Residual Stresses in Laser Additive Manufactured AlSi10Mg Specimens Using an Ultrasonic Peening Technique , 2019, Materials.

[17]  H. Siller,et al.  Experimental Determination of Residual Stresses Generated by Single Point Incremental Forming of AlSi10Mg Sheets Produced Using SLM Additive Manufacturing Process , 2018, Materials.

[18]  V. Pisarev,et al.  Residual stress determination by optical interferometric measurements of hole diameter increments , 2018, Optics and Lasers in Engineering.

[19]  A. Korsunsky,et al.  Separating macro- (Type I) and micro- (Type II+III) residual stresses by ring-core FIB-DIC milling and eigenstrain modelling of a plastically bent titanium alloy bar , 2018, Acta Materialia.

[20]  A. Korsunsky,et al.  On the identification of eigenstrain sources of welding residual stress in bead-on-plate inconel 740H specimens , 2018, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences.

[21]  G. Requena,et al.  Peritectic titanium alloys for 3D printing , 2018, Nature Communications.

[22]  Alexander M. Korsunsky,et al.  A good practice guide for measuring residual stresses using FIB-DIC , 2018 .

[23]  M. Smith,et al.  Residual stress analysis in linear friction welded in-service Inconel 718 superalloy via neutron diffraction and contour method approaches , 2017 .

[24]  T. Sui,et al.  Residual stress evaluation at the micro- and nano-scale: Recent advancements of measurement techniques, validation through modelling, and future challenges , 2017 .

[25]  A. Lunt,et al.  Full in-plane strain tensor analysis using the microscale ring-core FIB milling and DIC approach , 2016 .

[26]  I. Ashcroft,et al.  The microstructure and mechanical properties of selectively laser melted AlSi10Mg: The effect of a conventional T6-like heat treatment , 2016 .

[27]  Alexander M. Korsunsky,et al.  The influence of welding procedure and plate geometry on residual stresses in thick components , 2016 .

[28]  Alexander M. Korsunsky,et al.  Focused ion beam ring drilling for residual stress evaluation , 2009 .

[29]  Alexander M. Korsunsky,et al.  Variational eigenstrain analysis of residual stresses in a welded plate , 2007 .

[30]  Tim J. Carter,et al.  Common failures in gas turbine blades , 2005 .

[31]  Feng Li,et al.  Metal-Based 3D-Printed Micro Parts & Structures , 2020 .

[32]  H. Attia,et al.  Residual Stresses and Surface Integrity of Ti-alloys During Finish Turning – Guidelines for Compressive Residual Stresses☆ , 2016 .

[33]  C. Pappalettere,et al.  Residual Stress on Aisi 300 Sintered Materials , 2011 .

[34]  G. A. Webster,et al.  Residual stress distributions and their influence on fatigue lifetimes , 2001 .

[35]  Geraint P Williams.  Reference Module in Materials Science and Materials Engineering , 1970 .