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Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Ti and Zr Micro-Alloyed Al-Cu Alloy Fabricated by Wire + Arc Additive Manufacturing

  • Advanced Materials for Additive Manufacturing
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Abstract

The inhomogeneous microstructure and mechanical property anisotropy of aluminum alloys fabricated by wire + arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) commonly have negative impacts on the applications of WAAM aluminum alloy. This article focuses on a new Al-Cu-Mn-Ti-Zr aluminum alloy based on pulsed gas metal arc additive manufacturing, aiming to refine the microstructure and alleviate the mechanical property anisotropy during depositions. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-deposited and T6 heat-treated WAAM Al-Cu aluminum alloy were investigated. The microstructure analysis revealed that the grain structure of the as-deposited alloy consisted of predominantly fine equiaxed grains and the average size of the grains was 12.7 μm. The Al3Ti and Al3(Ti, Zr) particles precipitated within the grains acted as the heterogeneous nucleation nuclei of α-Al, promoting the formation of fine equiaxed grains during deposition. After T6 heat treatment, most of the eutectic structure was dissolved into the α-Al matrix, and the high density of fine needle-like θ' precipitates could be observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Hence, the precipitation strengthening of θ' significantly improved the mechanical properties of T6 heat-treated samples. However, the formation of pores caused a reduction in the elongation.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Key Project of Research and Development in Yunnan Province, grant number 202103AN080001-002, 202202AG050007-4 and Key Project of Yunnan Fundamental Research, grant number 202101AS070017.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang, 110136, China

    Siyue Fan & Xuming Guo

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650000, China

    Siyue Fan, Qingwei Jiang, Zhenhua Li & Jing Ma

  3. Yunnan Innovation Institute of Beihang University, Kunming, 650000, China

    Siyue Fan

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  1. Siyue Fan
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Contributions

SF: Methodology, Investigation, Writing, Formal analysis, Data curation. XG: Conceptualization, Methodology, Review and Editing, Writing. QJ: Conceptualization, Review and Editing. ZL: Investigation, Writing. JM: Investigation, Writing.

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Correspondence to Xuming Guo or Qingwei Jiang.

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Fan, S., Guo, X., Jiang, Q. et al. Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Ti and Zr Micro-Alloyed Al-Cu Alloy Fabricated by Wire + Arc Additive Manufacturing. JOM 75, 4115–4127 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-023-05900-9

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