Session: 01-10-01: Congress-Wide Symposium on NDE & SHM: Ultrasonic Waves for Material Characterization and Damage Assessment

Paper Number: 96236

96236 - Ultrasonic Characterization of AlSi10Mg Specimens Printed By Direct Energy Deposition Technology 

Additive manufacturing (AM) is one of the fast growing technology now. AM has a great potential in different areas allowing a production of a highly-complex, lightweight and volume reduced parts, which cannot be fabricated using conventional methods. The printing process parameters and powder composition could effect the mechanical properties of printed material. The layer by layer manufacturing approach influences microstructure of the material, and hence, the anisotropy of the mechanical properties. Also, defects such as porosity or cracks could be caused by non-optimized printing parameters.

In order avoid wasting of sample while inferring mechanical properties of the printed material, it beneficial to utilize the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods. Also, implementation of NDE methods for additively manufactured parts plays a great role in evaluating and ensuring the reliability of the printed part.

In this work, ultrasonic technique was utilized to determine the elastic properties and anisotropy of additively manufactured AlSi10Mg and conventionally fabricated Al 6061 samples. An ultrasonic measurement approach which allowed for the accurate measurement of the material properties was established and implemented. The experimental setup was built using Ritec RAM-5000 SNAP measurement system, Ritec diplexer, PXI chassis with digitizer, and PC for data visualization.

Two AlSi10Mg blocks were printed using direct energy deposition technology (DED). Six dog-bone specimens were cut horizontally from one of the blocks using the electric discharge machine (EDM); the cut was perpendicular to the building direction. In order to examine anisotropy of the printed material, longitudinal and shear sound speeds for AlSi10Mg block were measured in three directions. In this and all subsequent experiments the longitudinal and shear transducers were used and the sound speed was calculated by analyzing the position of the arrived pulses in the pulse-echo configuration. In the next set of tests, the sound speeds in the dog-bone samples were measured along the build direction coinciding with the thickness of the specimen. Elastic properties were calculated from the longitudinal and shear sound speeds and the measured density. The correlation between sample’s location within the block and its mechanical properties was established. In addition, the spatial distribution of elastic properties was explored. It was found that the elastic properties measured for the dog-bone specimens match with the elastic properties of the AlSi10Mg block in the z direction of the build.

In contrast to the ultrasonic data measured for the conventionally manufactured aluminum block, the ultrasonic signal obtained for printed block showed additional high frequency noise likely caused by the grain structure of the material. The correlation between elastic properties and location of the sample within the printed block was established.

Presenting Author: Mariya Chukovenkova New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Presenting Author Biography: In 2018 graduated from the Baltic State Technical University named after D.F. Ustinov, with a Master's degree in Applied Mechanics. In 2020 graduated with honors from the International Program of Nord University Business School and got a “Master of Business Administration and Engineering” (МВАЕ) degree. For two years (2018-2019) worked as a research engineer in collaborative project with Scientific Laboratory “Functional Materials” of St. Petersburg Polytechnical University. Took part in the development of a methodology for functionally graded materials and constructions modeling, manufactured be the additive technologies. Corresponding author of 7 scientific publications, including publications in peer-reviewed international journals Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures and International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering.

Authors:

Mariya Chukovenkova New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Andrei Zagrai New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
H. Scott Halliday Navajo Technical University
Joshua Toddy Navajo Technical University
Nylana J. Murphy Navajo Technical University