Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference - MAMC 2023

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) is a widely used additive manufacturing technique for producing lightweight, high-performance components for the automotive and aerospace industries. Its ability to produce complex, geometry-optimised parts is often limited by the size of the printer’s build chamber. To overcome those size limitations, LBPF components can be joined using rivets, screws or appropriate welding techniques. Furthermore, the joining of smaller printed parts also allows for greater design flexibility, fewer support structures and therefore, increased printing efficiency. Refill Friction Stir Spot Welding (RFSSW) is a novel solid-state welding technique for joining different wrought aluminium alloys or aluminium to other ferrous and non-ferrous metals. In this study, the feasibility of joining L-PBF-printed AlSi10Mg was investigated. The effect of process parameters on the ultimate lap shear force of single-lap joints was correlated using design of experiments and analysis of variance. Furthermore, the microstructure was examined using light optical microscopy (LOM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to ensure the integrity of the spot welds. A suitable RFSSW process parameter window and resulting quasi-static mechanical performance have been determined to enable the design of future L-PBF AlSi10Mg components joined by RFSSW.