High-quality and high-resolution thin-wall fabrication of A5183 aluminum alloy using wire-laser metal 3D printer

Additive manufacturing (AM) is widely applied due to its ability to produce precision components with complex geometries. In particular, 5000 series aluminum alloys, known for corrosion resistance, weldability, and workability, are considered promising materials for AM. However, aluminum alloys present challenges for high-quality, high-resolution manufacturing due to their high thermal conductivity and low viscosity, leading to porosity formation. Achieving both quality and resolution enables reduces post-processing time and improvement of efficiency. In the present study, a wire-laser metal 3D printer was employed to address these challenges by investigating the optimal fabrication conditions. Thin walls were fabricated under three laser power settings to examine heat input effects on quality and resolution. The results revealed that heat input plays a significant role in determining both the quality and resolution of the fabricated objects, and the mechanism responsible for thickness variation was also explained. Precise heat management is crucial for achieving high-quality and high-resolution manufacturing. Based on these insights, a method was demonstrated using initial high laser output to accumulate heat, then reducing output to control thickness, improve resolution, and maintain quality. As a result, high-quality, high-resolution structures with an average thickness of 3.4 mm, tensile strength ranging from 285 to 292 MPa, and anisotropy of 0.17% were successfully fabricated.