Revalorisation of aluminium scrap from electric car battery packs by production of raw powder for additive manufacturing

This study investigates the recycling and reutilisation of aluminium components recovered from electric vehicle battery housings to produce high-quality powder for Selective Laser Melting (SLM) additive manufacturing. The approach involves the disassembly of the battery to extract its metallic parts, followed by comprehensive chemical characterisation, melting, and high-pressure gas atomisation to generate a spherical AlSi7 powder tailored for SLM. A series of processing conditions, including varied energy densities and scanning speeds, were explored to minimise porosity in the printed parts. Subsequent metallographic analyses and mechanical testing revealed that, despite a relatively high iron content inherent in the recycled material, the optimised SLM parameters yielded nearly fully dense components. The microstructural evaluation demonstrated the formation of a refined α-Al matrix accompanied by a continuous silicon network. The mechanical properties of the manufactured parts were found to be comparable to those of conventional AlSi10Mg alloys. These findings confirm the technical feasibility of converting end-of-life electric vehicle battery cases into a valuable feedstock for advanced additive manufacturing. This work supports sustainable engineering practices and offers promising prospects for the effective reuse of recycled aluminium in high-performance applications.