New Developments of Laser Processing Aluminium Alloys via Additive Manufacturing Technique

The significance of this research lies in its potential to create an Additive Manufacturing technology of novel lightweight materials for industrial applications. The work reported here focuses on studies performed with low power fiber laser and investigates the feasibility of introducing high strength aluminium alloys and custom developed Al powder systems to the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process. Al-Si powder alloys were used as a reference point. The understanding of the behaviour the investigated alloys is essential if the SLM process to be fully controlled for a manufacturing environment.