Aluminum–Calcium Alloy for Laser Powder Bed Fusion
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
- (1)
- The optimal LPBF process conditions providing minimal porosity (the volume fraction of pores being 0.9–1.0%) of the manufactured specimens are as follows: laser power 350 W, scanning speed 1500 mm/s, hatch spacing 80 μm, and layer thickness 30 μm.
- (2)
- The microstructure of the as-grown specimens features an extremely fine structure, where discrete submicron-sized particles can only be resolved at the alloy bath edge. Analysis of the fine structure revealed well-resolvable slightly elongated dendrites of the aluminum solid solution with lateral sizes of about ~250–350 nm and longitudinal sizes of about 350–500 nm. The dendrites are decorated by thin veins of eutectic origin particles having lateral sizes of ~100–150 nm. Long-term isothermal annealing at 350 °C/100 h showed that most of the eutectic structure remains ultrafine-grained. There is a local coarsening of the eutectic structure along the interface between the initial alloy baths. TEM structural analysis showed that, as compared with the initial state after LPBF, when the eutectic particles, in fact, form a whole reinforcing framework, annealing destroys that framework as a result of developing fragmentation processes. One can observe coarsened eutectic phase particles, sized up to 600 nm, and discrete particles with an average size of 150–200 nm having nearly spherical shapes and concentrated in large quantities at the grain boundaries. The grain size is stabilized by the above particles at 400–800 nm.
- (3)
- The alloy exhibits high thermal stability. Annealing temperatures of below 300 °C have no critical effect on the alloy hardness: the hardness decreases to within 10% of the initial hardness (110 ± 3 HV). At 350 °C, the hardness decreases by 25.5% (82 ± 2 HV).
- (4)
- The optimal printing mode provides for the following strength parameters: UTS 366 ± 5 MPa, yield strength 223 ± 8 MPa, and relative elongation 30 ± 3%. Further, 100 h exposure at 350 °C reduced the UTS to 265 ± 2 MPa and the yield strength to 178 ± 10 MPa, keeping the relative elongation values at the same level of 29 ± 2%.
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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| No. | Alloy Designation | Concentration, wt.% (Target/Actual) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al | Ca | La | Mn | Zr | ||
| 1 | Al3Ca2La2Mn0.4Zr | balance | 3.0/2.8 | 2.0/2.1 | 2.0/1.8 | 0.4/0.35 |
| No. | Laser Power, W | Scanning Speed, mm/s | Hatch Distance, mm | Layer Thickness, mm | Energy Density, J/mm3 | Density, % | Microhardness, HV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 300 | 600 | 0.08 | 0.03 | 208.3 | 3.4 | 92 ± 4 |
| 2 | 300 | 900 | 0.08 | 0.03 | 138.8 | 0.67 | 103 ± 5 |
| 3 | 300 | 1200 | 0.08 | 0.03 | 104.2 | 0.68 | 106 ± 3 |
| 4 | 350 | 900 | 0.08 | 0.03 | 162.0 | 2.94 | 94 ± 5 |
| 5 | 350 | 1200 | 0.08 | 0.03 | 121.5 | 1.9 | 97 ± 5 |
| 6 | 350 | 1500 | 0.08 | 0.03 | 97.2 | 0.6 | 110 ± 3 |
| Alloy | Phase | Pearson Symbol | Volume Fraction, % | Lattice Parameters, Å | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | c | ||||
| Al3Ca2La2Mn0.4Zr | Al | cF4/1 | 91.8 ± 0.1 | 4.046 | - |
| (Al,Mn)4Ca | tI10/1 | 6.8 ± 0.1 | 4.372 | 11.197 | |
| Al10LaMn2 | tP52/2 | 1.4 ± 0.0 | 8.420 | - | |
| Alloy | State | Tensile Strength/MPa | Yield Strength/MPa | Elongation/ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al3Ca2La2Mn0.4Zr | as-printed | 366 ± 5 | 223 ± 8 | 30 ± 3 |
| as-annealed (350 °C/3 h) | 294 ± 8 | 226 ± 6 | 25 ± 1 | |
| as-annealed (350 °C/100 h) | 265 ± 2 | 178 ± 10 | 29 ± 2 |
| Alloy | Technological State | Tensile Strength/MPa | Yield Strength/MPa | Elongation/ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al3Ca2La2.0Mn [29] | as-cast | 225 | 174 | 5.2 |
| Al3Ca2La1.5Mn [44] | as-deformed at 400 °C (reduction rate 80%) | 292 | 236 | 5.5 |
| Al3Ca2La2Mn0.4Zr | as-printed | 366 | 223 | 30 |
| Al3Ce0.9Ca1.9Mn1.2Zr [41] | as-printed | 333 | 245 | 24.4 |
| Al3Ce0.9Ca1.9Mn1.2Zr [41] | as-printed (as-annealed at 375 °C/8 h) | 411 | 359 | 16.8 |
| Al10Ce [21] | as-printed | 319 | 222 | 10.8 |
| AlSi10Mg [47] | as-printed | 414 | 247 | 6.6 |
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Letyagin, N.V.; Akopyan, T.K.; Palkin, P.A.; Solovev, I.S.; Fedorenko, L.V.; Chernyshikhin, S.V.; Babenko, E.O.; Barkov, R.Y. Aluminum–Calcium Alloy for Laser Powder Bed Fusion. J. Manuf. Mater. Process. 2026, 10, 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmmp10050148
Letyagin NV, Akopyan TK, Palkin PA, Solovev IS, Fedorenko LV, Chernyshikhin SV, Babenko EO, Barkov RY. Aluminum–Calcium Alloy for Laser Powder Bed Fusion. Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing. 2026; 10(5):148. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmmp10050148
Chicago/Turabian StyleLetyagin, Nikolay V., Torgom K. Akopyan, Pavel A. Palkin, Ivan S. Solovev, Leonid V. Fedorenko, Stanislav V. Chernyshikhin, Ekaterina O. Babenko, and Ruslan Yu. Barkov. 2026. "Aluminum–Calcium Alloy for Laser Powder Bed Fusion" Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing 10, no. 5: 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmmp10050148
APA StyleLetyagin, N. V., Akopyan, T. K., Palkin, P. A., Solovev, I. S., Fedorenko, L. V., Chernyshikhin, S. V., Babenko, E. O., & Barkov, R. Y. (2026). Aluminum–Calcium Alloy for Laser Powder Bed Fusion. Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing, 10(5), 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmmp10050148

