According to SmarTech, two significant development trends are currently taking place in the 3D printing industry. The first is that the global supply chain of aluminum alloy materials seems to have "crossed the threshold" and become the next generation of opportunities to support additive manufacturing technologies.
3D printing of aluminum alloys is taking a leap forward, catching up with nickel alloys, stainless steel and titanium alloys.
Stronger performance and lighter materials
Development logic of aluminum alloy
When a material is relatively cheap, but it is difficult to process through 3D printing, the current motivation for developing this material on the market to be suitable for 3D printing processing technology becomes insufficient, because the material is relatively expensive compared to the price of 3D printing equipment. The effect of the price on the price of the final product is not obvious.
But if there is a way to make this relatively cheap material easy to process, and the product performance achieved can be comparable to those expensive materials? For example, it can replace the application scenarios of medium temperature titanium alloys.
This supports the development logic of high-strength aluminum alloys.
Amaero HOT Al
Australia's Amaero recently announced that its high-performance 3D printed aluminum alloy Amaero HOT Al has entered the national phase of international patent approval (the fourth and final phase). International patents mean that more than 150 participating countries recognize and protect an invention. In this way, inventors can recognize their inventions globally without traversing multiple patent applications.
Amaero comes from Monash University. This university has many years of experience in the field of aerospace additive manufacturing. It has worked with the French aerospace company Safran Group to develop two 3D printed jet engines. Commercialization stage.
In the aerospace field, there have been some drawbacks in the application of aluminum alloys. Although aluminum alloys are very light, they often perform poorly in applications exposed to temperatures above 160°C. They will soften and age over time, so the aerospace industry will choose relatively heavy metals, such as steel or titanium. How to improve the performance of aluminum alloys is a place worthy of research and breakthrough.
For more than half a century, researchers have completed a lot of work to improve the heat resistance of aluminum alloys, so that aluminum alloys can withstand higher working temperatures without reducing mechanical properties. Today, in the world, through 3D printing technology, new aluminum alloy materials are showing a rapidly rising development trend, higher strength, the possibility of replacing medium temperature titanium alloys, Amaero HOT Al has opened up a unique in terms of performance Market positioning.
Taking Amaero HOT Al as an example, this new aluminum alloy can be heat-treated and age hardened after 3D printing, thereby improving strength and durability, making this aluminum alloy stable at a temperature of about 260 °C for a long time. Originally developed by researchers from Monash University in Australia in collaboration with Amaero, Amaero now has a global license for the alloy.
The development and commercialization of new high-strength aluminum alloys and equipment suitable for 3D printing of various aluminum alloys has become an obvious international and domestic development trend.
SZBF-Al250C
The founder of SZBF and academician Wu Xinhua of the Australian Academy of Engineering led the research team of Monash University to successfully develop a special aluminum alloy material with the brand of Al250C for high-strength and high-toughness additive manufacturing. The Al250C material is used for 3D printing. The yield strength can reach 580MPa and the tensile strength is 590MPa Above, the elongation rate can reach 11%, and the prepared component has passed the stability test lasting 5000 hours at a high temperature of 250°C, which is equivalent to the requirement of 25 years of regular service of the engine.
Aeromet-A20X
Internationally, many developers have emerged in the field of 3D printing of high-strength aluminum alloys. The British-based foundry expert Aeromet International has patented aluminum alloy powder A20X for additive manufacturing. The parts have exceeded the limit of 500MPa. Strength (UTS). A20X is an aluminum-copper alloy material with a fine microstructure that has “higher strength, fatigue resistance, and optimized thermal properties compared to other alloys. In the test, 3D printed A20X powder materials were manufactured The ultimate tensile strength is 511MPa.
HRL-7A77.60L
In the United States, the fine-grained microstructure is achieved and has a material strength comparable to that of forged materials. The high-strength 7A77.60L aluminum powder for 3D printing developed by HRL Laboratories was officially put on the market in October 2019. Users can directly report to HRL Purchase this aluminum alloy material. When using aluminum alloy materials Al7075 and Al6061, metal 3D printing in a high-energy laser environment can cause severe thermal cracks on metal parts. HRL researchers chose zirconium-based nanoparticle nucleating agents with the help of software and big data , And combined them into 7075 and 6061 series aluminum alloy powder. The formed material is crack-free and equiaxed (that is, the grains are approximately equal in length, width, and height), achieving a fine-grain microstructure and having material strength comparable to that of forged materials. 3D printed aluminum alloy materials yield on average The strength is up to 580 MPa, the ultimate strength exceeds 600 MPa, and the average elongation exceeds 8%.
3D printing of aluminum alloys is gaining wider development. Earlier in 2020, Optomec, a manufacturer of DED directional energy deposition 3D printing equipment, announced advances in its applicable materials for LENS 3D printing. The Optomec system can now be used to deposit any aluminum alloy, including its recently developed aluminum alloy with improved additive manufacturing performance.
QuesTek
Another metal powder manufacturer, QuesTek Innovations, has begun to develop new aluminum alloy raw materials in cooperation with the German Aerospace Center. The alloy will exhibit high strength at high temperatures from 200°C to 300°C and can even replace titanium alloys in certain applications.
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics developed aluminum-based nanocomposites based on SLM several years ago, which are used in the field of laser additive technology to effectively solve the mismatch and enhancement of process performance and mechanical properties of aluminum-based nanocomposites during laser additive process. The problem of uneven particle distribution and poor wettability between the ceramic phase and the substrate phase make the obtained product have good interface bonding and excellent mechanical properties.
The emergence of high-strength aluminum alloy materials for 3D printing has opened a brand new door for parts processing that had to be achieved by forging. Combined with the design freedom released by 3D printing, high-strength aluminum alloys will include pressure vessels and hydraulic manifolds. The field of pipes, brackets and high-strength structural parts has gained huge imagination market space.