Archive | 2019
Surface Inoculation of Aluminium Powders for Additive Manufacturing Guided by Differential Fast Scanning Calorimetry
Abstract
To improve the solidification process of laser beam melting (LBM), and thus enable the printing of hard-to-weld high-strength aluminum alloys, the project is designed to modify the powder surface by adding nanoparticles for a guided nucleation. In situ testing of the fast melting and solidification process of single particles will be performed using differential fast scanning calorimetry (DFSC). DFSC results will be transferred to LBM of aluminum alloys and used to adjust parameter settings. Specimens will be printed, to check crack formation and physical as well as mechanical material properties. The aluminum alloy EN AW-7075 (EN AW-AlZnMgCu1.5, Al7075) is the most common high-strength aluminum alloy used in mechanical engineering, aircraft industry and, due to new developments like press quenching, also in the automobile industry. Due to the importance of Al7075, this research focusses on inoculating its powder particles and thus, enables crack and porosity free 3D printing.