On microstructure and mechanical properties of additively manufactured AlSi10Mg_200C using recycled powder

Additive manufacturing of reactive metals has opened door to consider using metal 3D printing to manufacture aluminum alloys for different applications from automotive and aerospace to defense. However, one of the major milestones of adopting the technology is still the high price of metal powder in comparison to casting methods. Using recycled powder to additively manufacture parts can be considered one way to decrease the final price in this technology. In the present paper, the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of the DMLS-AlSi10Mg_200C alloy manufactured by recycled powder were investigated. As the first step of this research, the powder characteristics, i.e. morphology, average particle size, microstructure and composition, of virgin, condensate and recycled AlSi10Mg powder were studied. It was inferred that virgin and recycled powders had comparable powder characteristics, which are very different in comparison to the condensate powder. In the second step of this research, microstructural and mechanical characterization of the as-built DMLS-AlSi10Mg_200C alloy using recycled powder revealed that elongation of horizontally built DMLS-AlSi10Mg_200C was higher compared to that of vertically built. In addition, the fracture surfaces of vertically and horizontally built samples were investigated and possible fracture modes discussed. It is confirmed that, the microstructure and mechanical behavior of the as-built as-built DMLS-AlSi10Mg_200C manufactured by recycled powder were similar to that of virgin powder.