Srivastava Sunita K, Mathivanan N Rajesh
Department of Mechanical Engineering, PES University, Bangalore, India.
J Mol Model. 2025 Apr 2;31(5):129. doi: 10.1007/s00894-025-06354-3.
AlSi10Mg alloy is among the most widely recognised aluminium alloys due to its dimensional stability and exceptional properties for additive manufacturing. However, the alloy's performance can be improved and optimized through appropriate reinforcement and control of the manufacturing process parameters. This work focuses on the impact of process parameters (laser power, scan speed and layer thickness) and graphene reinforcement on the mechanical properties of SLM-fabricated AlSi10Mg alloy. The results indicate that, increasing the laser power within the studied range enhances both tensile and compressive strength. Furthermore, reducing the laser scanning speed improved these properties, although further reduction beyond a threshold value minimizes the impact. However, increasing the layer thickness while maintaining the same laser power reduces the material properties, the effect can be mitigated by supplying more laser energy. The addition of graphene as reinforcement has markedly improved the composite properties, improving its elastic and plastic behaviour. The graphene reinforcement also improved the stiffness, yield strength, toughness, and ultimate strength making it a highly effective way to enhance the AlSi10Mg alloy performance.
In this study, molecular dynamics (MD) was performed to model the selective laser melting (SLM) process using LAMMPS (large-scale atomic/molecular massively parallel simulator) software. The simulation setup was programmed to analyse the impact of process parameters, including laser power (500, 600, and 700 μW), scanning speed (1, 1.5, and 2 nm/ps) and layer thickness (two and three-particle layer system) on the mechanical properties (tensile and compressive strength) of AlSi10Mg alloy. Additionally, the impact of graphene reinforcement was also examined using nano-scale simulation. The simulation provides insights into both the SLM process and the mechanical behaviour of the alloy and its composite under different processing conditions.
AlSi10Mg合金因其尺寸稳定性和在增材制造方面的卓越性能而成为最广为人知的铝合金之一。然而，通过适当的增强和控制制造工艺参数，可以提高和优化该合金的性能。这项工作聚焦于工艺参数（激光功率、扫描速度和层厚）以及石墨烯增强对选择性激光熔化（SLM）制备的AlSi10Mg合金力学性能的影响。结果表明，在所研究的范围内增加激光功率可提高拉伸强度和抗压强度。此外，降低激光扫描速度可改善这些性能，不过超过阈值进一步降低扫描速度则效果减弱。然而，在保持相同激光功率的情况下增加层厚会降低材料性能，通过提供更多激光能量可减轻这种影响。添加石墨烯作为增强材料显著改善了复合材料的性能，提升了其弹性和塑性行为。石墨烯增强还提高了刚度、屈服强度、韧性和极限强度，使其成为提高AlSi10Mg合金性能的一种高效方法。
在本研究中，使用LAMMPS（大规模原子/分子大规模并行模拟器）软件进行分子动力学（MD）模拟以模拟选择性激光熔化（SLM）过程。模拟设置经过编程，以分析工艺参数（包括激光功率（500、600和700 μW）、扫描速度（1、1.5和2 nm/ps）和层厚（双粒子层系统和三粒子层系统））对AlSi10Mg合金力学性能（拉伸强度和抗压强度）的影响。此外，还使用纳米尺度模拟研究了石墨烯增强的影响。该模拟为SLM过程以及合金及其复合材料在不同加工条件下的力学行为提供了深入见解。
