Corrosion Studies of Selective Laser Melting Printed AlSi10Mg Parts

AlSi10Mg alloy is widely used in marine, nuclear, petrochemicals, and food processing application parts operated in corrosive environments. A selective laser melting technique is used to print the AlSi10Mg parts. The printed specimen quality is influenced by laser power (LP), scan speed (SS), and hatch distance (HD). Taguchi L9 orthogonal array is used for experimental planning, analysis, and optimising printed parts' corrosion resistance. LP is the most dominating factor, followed by hatch distance and scan speed on the corrosion current (corrosion resistance of sample). Taguchi method determined optimal conditions (LP: 270 W; SS: 1000 mm/s; HD: 0.10 mm) improve the corrosion resistance by 16.1%. The microstructure under optimal conditions exhibits minimal corrosion and oxidation on the sample surface compared to sub-optimal conditions examined with scanning electron micrographs. Any novice user can use the results of the optimal conditions for reduced corrosion current in the printed parts.