Material Behaviour When Locally Melted And Rapidly Cooled

In Additive Manufacturing, to tailor a material’s composition for unique purposes and/or functionality, a fundamental understanding of the material’s parameters and the solidification process is required.

The aim of this research is to achieve isotropic and refined microstructures in Selective Laser Melted (SLM) aluminium alloys, coupled with improved tensile properties.

The University of Queensland (UQ) team has worked in close partnership with Monash researchers to study the solidification behaviour of additively manufactured metallic alloys. In particular, the team has been studying the role of grain refiners during rapid laser pulse melting and solidification.

Using facilities at UQ and Monash, the team has explored a number of grain refiners in aluminium alloys and has characterised the effect of the ultra‐fast cooling rates (from laser pulses) on the inoculants to grain refinement.