EFFECT OF ION IRRADIATION ON MICROSTRUCTURAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF AM-SLM SAMPLES

Tsahi Safar ^1,2 Tiferet Eitan ^2,4 Peri Landau ² Olga Girshevitz ³ Itzhak Orion ¹

¹Nuclear Engineering Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
²Material Characterization, Nuclear Research Center Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
³Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials, BINA Tandem Pelletron, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
⁴Material, Additive Manufacturing Center, Rotem Ind., Mishor Yamin, Israel

The study examines the correlation between the unique microstructure of Additive Manufacturing (AM) of aluminum alloy (AlSi10Mg) products and the lattice damage accumulation created by ion Irradiation. AM Samples were implanted with different concentrations of He⁺ ion’s to produce Helium accumulation that can be noticeable in both microstructural changes and mechanical behavior. AM samples were irradiated by He⁺ ions of 550 Kev and overlapping layers of 425,500,575 Kev and at room temperature up to average fluence of 1.35x10¹⁵ atoms/cm², by linear accelerator. In order to achieve 200 and 2000 appm respectively, concentration of Helium gas in lattice. The Changes in Micro and Macro Structural in the Alloy were investigated by TEM analysis and CSM Nanoindentation Testing. While a concentration of 200 appm did not yield discernable He clusters or bubbles, a concentration of 2000 appm produced nanometer-size bubbles. Correlation between the microstructure and the bubbles site is suggested. Nanoindentation analysis were performed to examine the variability of mechanical properties caused by ion irradiation.