Energy Absorption Behaviors of Laser Additive Manufactured Aluminium Alloy Thin-Walled Tube Tailored by Heat Treatment

抄録

Thin-walled metal tubes, because of their low cost, high stiffness and strength combined with a relatively low density, have been extensively applied in transportation vehicle industry as energy absorbers. The traditional methods applied to the metal tube fabrication, however, are time-consuming and materially-inefficient processes. In the present study, taken AlSi10Mg alloy as the model material, the hexagon thin-walled tubes were prepared by Selective laser melting (SLM). The effect of post heat treatment on the energy absorption characteristics of hexagon thin-walled tubes is systematically studied. The results revealed that the subsequent heat treatment significantly improved the energy absorption properties of the hexagonal thin-walled tube, especially the solution heat treatment. Moreover, the energy absorption properties of the AlSi10Mg hexagonal tube obtained in the present work is higher than most of recently reported thin-walled AlSi10Mg tubes fabricated by SLM.

Fig. 4 (a) Quasi-static compressive force-displacement curves of triangular, square and hexagon thin-walled tubes simulated by the finite element simulation; (b) Comparison of quasi-static compression experiment and simulation results of hexagonal thin-walled tubes without post heat treatment and under solution treatment.