Method of manufacturing aluminum alloy articles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11192188-B2
Application number	US-201715607086-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2017
Priority date	May 26, 2017
Publication date	Dec 7, 2021
Grant date	Dec 7, 2021

Abstract

A method for making an article is disclosed. The method involves inputting a digital model of an article into an additive manufacturing apparatus comprising an energy source. The additive manufacturing apparatus applies energy from the energy source to successively applied incremental quantities of a powder to fuse the powder to form the article corresponding to the digital model. The powder includes an aluminum alloy having 2.00-9.00 wt. % cerium, 0.25-3.00 wt. % silicon, 0.25-0.75 wt. % magnesium, 0-0.75 wt. % iron, 0-0.05 wt. % other alloying elements, and the balance of aluminum, based on the total weight of the aluminum alloy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for making an article, comprising:
inputting a digital model of the article into an additive manufacturing apparatus or system comprising an energy source; and
repeatedly applying energy from the energy source to successively applied incremental quantities of a powder to fuse the powder to form the article corresponding to the digital model, wherein the powder comprises an aluminum alloy comprising greater than 2.00 and less than 4.00 wt. % cerium, 0.25-3.00 wt. % silicon, 0.25-0.75 wt. % magnesium, 0-0.75 wt. % iron, 0-0.05 wt. % other alloying elements, and the balance of aluminum, based on the total weight of the aluminum alloy.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the energy source sinters the incremental quantities of the aluminum alloy powder.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the energy source melts or fluidizes the incremental quantities of the aluminum alloy powder.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the energy source provides homogeneous melting of the incremental quantities of the aluminum alloy powder.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing an inert atmosphere around the aluminum alloy powder.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selectively exposing incremental quantities of aluminum alloy powder in a layer of a powder bed over a support with a laser or electron beam to fuse the selectively exposed aluminum alloy powder in a pattern over the support corresponding to a layer of the digital model of the article, and repeatedly;
providing a layer of the powder over the selectively exposed layer and selectively exposing incremental quantities of aluminum alloy powder in the layer to fuse the selectively exposed aluminum alloy powder in a pattern corresponding to another layer of the digital model of the article.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein providing additional layers of the powder includes re-positioning the support to maintain each layer being fused at a constant position with respect to the laser or electron beam.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprises 0.25-1.00 wt. % silicon, based on the total weight of the aluminum alloy.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprises 1.00-2.00 wt. % silicon, based on the total weight of the aluminum alloy.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprises 2.00-3.00 wt. % silicon, based on the total weight of the aluminum alloy.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprises iron in an amount up to 0.30 wt. %, based on the total weight of the aluminum alloy.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprises 0.25-0.75 wt. % iron, based on the total weight of the aluminum alloy.

Assignees

• Hamilton Sundstrand Corp

Inventors

• Karlen Eric
• Wentland William Louis
• Mironets Sergey
• Bianco Robert

Classifications

• C22C21/00 Primary

  Alloys based on aluminium · CPC title

• B22F12/44

  characterised by the configuration of the radiation means · CPC title

• B22F10/64

  by thermal means (control of energy beam parameters for post heating B22F10/364) · CPC title

• B22F10/32

  of the atmosphere, e.g. composition or pressure in a building chamber · CPC title

• B22F10/28

  Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM] · CPC title