High strain-rate response of additively manufactured light metal alloys

Understanding the high strain-rate response of materials is essential in applications including aerospace, automotive, and defence. Structures of these applications are often subjected to dynamic loadings of high strain rates and need to mitigate the impact by absorbing its energy. The advancement of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies has enabled the fabrication of structures in many industrial sectors. Many sectors now utilize AM to produce their parts to attain light weight, enhanced functionality, and part number reduction. Therefore, it is critical to characterize the mechanical properties of AM materials. Despite receiving a great deal of research under quasi-static conditions, the dynamic response of AM materials is still lacking. This paper reviews the recent studies on the high strain-rate response of AM light metal alloys. We mainly focus on the two most common AM light alloys, namely AlSi10Mg and Ti6Al4V. The paper starts by reviewing the main AM techniques and materials' high strain-rate testing methods. We then review the flow behaviour, deformation mechanisms of AlSi10Mg and Ti6Al4V under high strain rates and the effect of post-processing. Moreover, we present a comparison of the high strain rate mechanical behaviour against conventionally manufactured alloys. The paper concludes with an outlook for future research and recommendations.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).