Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Nanoparticulate Y2O3 Modified AlSi10Mg Alloys Manufactured by Selective Laser Melting

Fuxu Zhang; Zhenyu Zhang; Qinming Gu; Xuezhang Hou; Fanning Meng; Xuye Zhuang; Li Li; Bingxin Liu; Junyuan Feng

doi:10.3390/ma16031222

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Nanoparticulate Y₂O₃ Modified AlSi10Mg Alloys Manufactured by Selective Laser Melting

Materials (Basel). 2023 Jan 31;16(3):1222. doi: 10.3390/ma16031222.

Authors

Fuxu Zhang¹, Zhenyu Zhang¹, Qinming Gu¹, Xuezhang Hou¹, Fanning Meng², Xuye Zhuang³, Li Li³, Bingxin Liu⁴, Junyuan Feng¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-Traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
² School of Mechanical Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
³ School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255000, China.
⁴ Yantai Research Institute and Graduate School of Harbin Engineering University, Yantai 264006, China.

Abstract

AlSi10Mg has a good forming ability and has been widely accepted as an optimal material for selective laser melting (SLM). However, the strength and elongation of unmodified AlSi10Mg are insufficient, which limits its application in the space industry. In this paper, yttrium oxide (Y₂O₃) nanoparticles modified AlSi10Mg composites that were manufactured using SLM. The effects of Y₂O₃ nanoparticles (0~2 wt.% addition) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AlSi10Mg alloys were investigated. An ultimate tensile strength of 500.3 MPa, a yield strength of 322.3 MPa, an elongation of 9.7%, a good friction coefficient of 0.43, and a wear rate of (3.40 ± 0.09) ×10^-4 mm³·N^-1·m^-1 were obtained with the addition of 0.5 wt.% Y₂O₃ nanoparticles, and all these parameters were higher than those of the SLMed AlSi10Mg alloy. The microhardness of the composite with 1.0 wt.% Y₂O₃ reached 145.6 HV_0.1, which is an increase of approximately 22% compared to the unreinforced AlSi10Mg. The improvement of tensile properties can mainly be attributed to Orowan strengthening, fine grain strengthening, and load-bearing strengthening. The results show that adding an appropriate amount of Y₂O₃ nanoparticles can significantly improve the properties of the SLMed AlSi10Mg alloy.

Keywords: AlSi10Mg alloy; Y2O3 nanoparticles; mechanical properties; microstructure; selective laser melting.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFA0703400), the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52205447), Changjiang Scholars Program of Chinese Ministry of Education, the Xinghai Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars at Dalian University of Technology and the Collaborative Innovation Center of Major Machine Manufacturing in Liaoning.