Issue 19/2017 - A new member of the 3D printing materials "family"

A few days ago, the British journal Nature published a new breakthrough in materials science: American scientists have developed a new method for
3D printing high-strength aluminum alloys.
This method can also be used in the manufacture
of other alloys.
This time, John Martin, a scientist at the Hughes Research Laboratory in the United States, and his colleagues introduced nanoparticles to control solidification in the additive manufacturing process, providing a good solution
to this problem.
They first selected aluminum alloys closely related to automotive, aviation and consumer applications for experiments, and then used computer software to analyze more than 4,500 combinations of different alloys and nanoparticles, and finally selected the surface hydrogenated (treated) zirconium as a suitable nanoparticle material
.

In the experiment, the researchers added two aluminum alloys - 7075 (commonly used 7 series aluminum alloy, the best strength) and 6061 (not as high strength as the 7 series, but excellent processing performance) atomized powder with surface zirconium hydride nanoparticle coating, and then used selective laser melting technology for additive manufacturing
.
It was found that compared to parts made of 7075 and 6061 powders without nanoparticle coating, the alloy made of nanoparticles showed no crack marks and was as strong as forged materials
.

The researchers believe that this new method not only breaks through the constraints of traditional manufacturing methods, but is not inferior in strength, and can be applied to other alloys, further expanding the "family"
of additive manufacturing materials.