Processability of high-strength aluminum 6182 series alloy via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF)

The growing demand for more materials available for the LPBF-process, in particular high-strength aluminum alloys, is evident in the market. In the present work, a systematic investigation of the processability of aluminum 6182 series alloys, using LPBF, was carried out. For this purpose, the influence of process parameters, especially of enhanced preheating by heating the substrate plate during the LPBF process, on the microstructure of EN AW 6182 specimens was studied. Experiments were conducted at different preheating temperatures always using the same d-optimal design-of-experiments, the laser power, scanning speed, hatch distance, and laser focus position being varied over a wide range. It was found that the preheating temperature has the strongest impact on hot cracking. Higher temperatures result in a significantly reduced number of hot cracks in the microstructure. Moreover, an equiaxed microstructure of the specimens manufactured can be observed at preheating temperatures of 500 degrees C. In addition to the preheating temperature, the achievable part density is most strongly affected by the laser focus position and the laser power, whereas the hatch distance shows no discernible impact on the part density. Furthermore, neither the hatch distance nor the laser focus position shows any significant effect on hot cracking. In combination with the optimal scanning parameters, crack-free parts with a fully equiaxed grain structure and densities > 99.0% can be manufactured via LPBF at a preheating temperature of 500 degrees C.