scholarly journals Gold–Silver Electroless Plating on Laser Powder-Bed Fusion Additively Printed AlSi10Mg Parts

Metals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Inberg ◽  
Dana Ashkenazi ◽  
Giora Kimmel ◽  
Yosi Shacham-Diamand ◽  
Adin Stern

The current research presents a novel methodology for surface finishing of printed AlSi10Mg parts by electroless deposited gold–silver (electrum) alloys. The parts were printed by additive manufacturing laser powder-bed fusion (AM-LPBF). The electrum was chosen due to its appearance and good electrical and thermal properties and was deposited on disk-shaped specimens at 80 and 90 °C. The coating quality and appearance were studied by different methods for various deposition times and film thicknesses. The results indicate that Au–Ag coatings of AM-LPBF AlSi10Mg yield satisfactory results. The XRD analysis revealed that the coatings were composed of Au–Ag crystalline phases and beneath them, a quasi-amorphous or mixed quasi-amorphous and nanocrystalline Ni–P interlayer. The mechanism of electrum formation was studied based on the XPS analysis results as a function of the temperature and concentration. At 80 °C, the Ag was dominant at the beginning of the deposition process, while at 90 °C the Au was first detected on the interface. This result was explained by the electrochemical properties of alloying metals and the binding energies required to form metal–Ni and Au–Ag bonding. The results indicate that the electrum coatings are satisfactory, and the developed surface finishing process could be used for many applications.

Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 422
Author(s):  
Dana Ashkenazi ◽  
Alexandra Inberg ◽  
Yosi Shacham-Diamand ◽  
Adin Stern

Additive manufacturing (AM) revolutionary technologies open new opportunities and challenges. They allow low-cost manufacturing of parts with complex geometries and short time-to-market of products that can be exclusively customized. Additive manufactured parts often need post-printing surface modification. This study aims to review novel environmental-friendly surface finishing process of 3D-printed AlSi10Mg parts by electroless deposition of gold, silver, and gold–silver alloy (e.g., electrum) and to propose a full process methodology suitable for effective metallization. This deposition technique is simple and low cost method, allowing the metallization of both conductive and insulating materials. The AlSi10Mg parts were produced by the additive manufacturing laser powder bed fusion (AM-LPBF) process. Gold, silver, and their alloys were chosen as coatings due to their esthetic appearance, good corrosion resistance, and excellent electrical and thermal conductivity. The metals were deposited on 3D-printed disk-shaped specimens at 80 and 90 °C using a dedicated surface activation method where special functionalization of the printed AlSi10Mg was performed to assure a uniform catalytic surface yielding a good adhesion of the deposited metal to the substrate. Various methods were used to examine the coating quality, including light microscopy, optical profilometry, XRD, X-ray fluorescence, SEM–energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), focused ion beam (FIB)-SEM, and XPS analyses. The results indicate that the developed coatings yield satisfactory quality, and the suggested surface finishing process can be used for many AM products and applications.


Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milad Hamidi Nasab ◽  
Alessandro Giussani ◽  
Dario Gastaldi ◽  
Valeria Tirelli ◽  
Maurizio Vedani

The fatigue behaviour of an AlSi10Mg alloy processed by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and subjected to different surface finishing processes was investigated paying special attention to the residual defects on the surface and the dominant fatigue failure mechanisms. Roughness measurements and qualitative surface morphology analysis showed smooth surfaces in the case of vibro-finishing and machining followed by polishing. The fatigue performance did not reveal to be directly related to surface roughness, but residual intrusions left on the finished surfaces. Post-mortem analysis showed single- or multiple-crack nucleation from pores opened on the surface, un-melted powders, or spatters considered as typical L-PBF defects. A fatigue limit of 195 MPa for machined and polished samples was obtained by substantial removal of surface and subsurface defects.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 2876
Author(s):  
Paolo Mengucci ◽  
Eleonora Santecchia ◽  
Andrea Gatto ◽  
Elena Bassoli ◽  
Antonella Sola ◽  
...  

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) technology was used to produce samples based on the Ti–6Al–4V alloy for biomedical applications. Solid-state phase transformations induced by thermal treatments were studied by neutron diffraction (ND), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Although, ND analysis is rather uncommon in such studies, this technique allowed evidencing the presence of retained β in α’ martensite of the as-produced (#AP) sample. The retained β was not detectable by XRD analysis, nor by STEM observations. Martensite contains a high number of defects, mainly dislocations, that anneal during the thermal treatment. Element diffusion and partitioning are the main mechanisms in the α ↔ β transformation that causes lattice expansion during heating and determines the final shape and size of phases. The retained β phase plays a key role in the α’ → β transformation kinetics.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizia Caiazzo ◽  
Vittorio Alfieri ◽  
Giuseppe Casalino

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) can fabricate products with tailored mechanical and surface properties. In fact, surface texture, roughness, pore size, the resulting fractional density, and microhardness highly depend on the processing conditions, which are very difficult to deal with. Therefore, this paper aims at investigating the relevance of the volumetric energy density (VED) that is a concise index of some governing factors with a potential operational use. This paper proves the fact that the observed experimental variation in the surface roughness, number and size of pores, the fractional density, and Vickers hardness can be explained in terms of VED that can help the investigator in dealing with several process parameters at once.


2020 ◽  
Vol 106 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 3367-3379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahriar Imani Shahabad ◽  
Zhidong Zhang ◽  
Ali Keshavarzkermani ◽  
Usman Ali ◽  
Yahya Mahmoodkhani ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Katrin Jahns ◽  
Anke S. Ulrich ◽  
Clara Schlereth ◽  
Lukas Reiff ◽  
Ulrich Krupp ◽  
...  

AbstractDue to the inhibiting behavior of Cu, NiCu alloys represent an interesting candidate in carburizing atmospheres. However, manufacturing by conventional casting is limited. It is important to know whether the corrosion behavior of conventionally and additively manufactured parts differ. Samples of binary NiCu alloys and Monel Alloy 400 were generated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) and exposed to a carburizing atmosphere (20 vol% CO–20% H2–1% H2O–8% CO2–51% Ar) at 620 °C and 18 bar for 960 h. Powders and printed samples were investigated using several analytic techniques such as EPMA, SEM, and roughness measurement. Grinding of the material after building (P1200 grit surface finish) generally reduced the metal dusting attack. Comparing the different compositions, a much lower attack was found in the case of the binary model alloys, whereas the technical Monel Alloy 400 showed a four orders of magnitude higher mass loss during exposure despite its Cu content of more than 30 wt%.


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