Strain hardening behavior of additively manufactured and annealed AlSi3.5Mg2.5 alloy

Highlights: • In-situ neutron diffraction of additively manufactured AlSi3.5Mg2.5 samples after annealing and aging. • The dislocation densities in both annealed and aged samples during tensile loading were measured. • The dislocation density is much lower in the annealed sample than in the aged one. • The dislocation storage rate is much lower in the annealed sample than in the aged one upon loading. • The dislocation annihilation rate is higher in the annealed sample than in the aged one upon loading. -- Abstract: The ductility of the Al alloys produced by additive manufacturing (AM) has become a critical property, as the AM Al alloys are increasingly used in the automotive industry. However, the ductility of as-built AM Al alloys is relatively low, even with optimized AM conditions. The post-annealing treatment provides an efficient way to improve ductility. Previous investigation has shown that the annealed AM AlSi3.5Mg2.5 alloy possesses superior ductility. However, the plastic deformation micro-mechanisms of the annealed AM AlSi3.5Mg2.5 alloy remain unclear. In this study, in-situ neutron diffraction was employed to explore the annealed AM AlSi3.5Mg2.5 alloy. The evolutions of phase stresses, dislocation density, and crystallite size in the annealed AM AlSi3.5Mg2.5 alloy during tensile deformation were analyzed. The experimental investigation reveals that the dislocation density in the Al matrix of the annealed AM AlSi3.5Mg2.5 alloy increases slowly in the early plastic deformation stage, and it reaches a saturated level upon the following uniform deformation. The crystallite size decreases quickly in the early deformation stage, and then it decreases slowly. The Kocks-Mecking model and the Voce model can capture the strain hardening behavior well. The determined physical constitutive equations can be applied in continuum mechanical computer simulations.