4D multiscale investigation of a new Aluminum Alloy for Additive Manufacturing

Kurzfassung

Aluminum alloys processed by LPBF have the potential to be used for a wide range of applications across aerospace, defense, transportation and industrial sectors. However, conventional Aluminum alloys adopted for LPBF show several drawbacks such as complicated post-processing and also unavoidable defects during AM or great variations in surface roughness that reduce the performance. These issues can be overcome by developing new Al alloys specifically tailored for the LPBF process. Constellium developed a new structural AL-Fe-Zr alloy, Aheadd® CP1, that covers a temperature range beyond current aluminum alloys. The alloy does not contain any critical elements and is designed to exploit LPBF’s rapid solidification nature, resulting in stable microstructures with excellent performance. The alloy was investigated in-situ at different length scales during the LPBF process and also during thermal treatments.