ELECTRON BEAM WELDING OF COMMERCIAL ALSI10MG PARTS PRODUCED BY ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY - PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Moshe Nahmany ^1,2 Isgav Benishti ¹ Idan Rosenthal ² Nahum Frage ² Adin Stern ²

¹Materials Department, Nuclear Research Center Negev, Beer-Sheva
²Materials Engineering Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva

Electron Beam Welding (EBW) is well established and a high-density energy (low heat input) welding technique, resulting in a narrow Heat Affected Zone (HAZ), causing minimal metallurgical changes in the workpieces. The present research work investigates EB autogenously welded AlSi10Mg samples, produced by the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) additive manufacturing (AM) method, with emphasis on the characterization of the joint`s macro- and microstructure. When comparing the EB welded AM parts to the EB welded cast samples two main differences were observed: weld metal porosity and a negligible HAZ in the AM joints and low porosity level but substantial HAZ in the welded cast parts. These preliminary results show for the first time the feasibility of the EBW technique on AM-SLM specimens.

Key words: EBW, AM, SLM, AlSi10Mg alloy