Laser Fusion of Aluminum Powder Coated with Diamond Particles via Selective Laser Melting: Powder Preparation and Synthesis Description

This work aims to study the possibility of obtaining Al-C composite from AlSi10MgCu aluminum matrix with the addition of 500 nm-sized diamond particles by selective laser melting (SLM) process. Al-C composite powder was prepared by mechanical mixing to form a uniform cover along the surface of aluminum particles. The diamond content in the resulting AlSi10MgCu-diamond composite powder was equal to 0.67 wt %. The selection of the optimal SLM parameters for the obtained composite material is presented. For materials characterization, the following methods were used: scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was applied after SLM printing for a detailed investigation of the obtained composites. The presence of carbon additives and the formation of aluminum carbides in the material after the SLM process were demonstrated.