Surface treatment and alloy development to reduce weight of AM aluminium parts
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Linköpings universitet - Department of Management and Engineering |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 3 350 000 |
| Project duration | December 2020 - June 2024 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | The strategic innovation programme SIP LIGHTer |
| Call | SIP LIGHTer Strategic Innovation Program - 2020 |
Important results from the project
The goal of the project has been to enable weight and energy savings through increased use of high-strength Al alloys in load-bearing parts manufactured through additive manufacturing (AM). The project has contributed to this objective by: - Verified new methodology for rapid screening of a large alloy range with respect to e.g. grain refinement and cracking tendency during AM. - Developed processes for Anodizing and verified these via corrosion testing. - Verified fatigue properties and studied the influence of a large number of process and post-process parameters.
Expected long term effects
Expected effects of the project: - An increased use of high-strength aluminum alloys for AM of components for e.g. aerospace, automotive and marine applications. - At least 20% weight reduction when replacing titanium alloys with aluminum alloys in topologically optimized AM parts. The material change is also expected to provide significant energy savings when recycling AM parts. - Reduced costs by at least 20% by eliminating the need for exotic alloying elements in high-strength Al alloys for AM and ensuring a continued high recycling rate for Al alloys.
Approach and implementation
The project has had 3 work packages: WP-Alloy development: Methodology for a rapid screening of a large alloy range with regard to grain refinement and cracking tendency during AM has been verified. WP-Corrosion and surface treatment An anodizing process has been developed for two Al systems for AM, AlSi10Mg and EOS Al2139. The surfaces have been tested for corrosion using a salt spray method. WP-Fatigue An extensive study on fatigue properties on EOS Al2139 has been carried out including the influence of a large number of process and post-process parameters.