preprints.org > materials science > metallurgy > doi: 10.20944/preprints202112.0065.v1

Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Version 1 : Received: 3 December 2021 / Approved: 6 December 2021 / Online: 6 December 2021 (12:06:21 CET)

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.

SLM; Al-Si-Mg alloy; residual stress; contour measurements; laser speckle-pattern interferometry; Xe pFIB-DIC; FEniCS

MATERIALS SCIENCE, Metallurgy