Structure and Mechanical Properties of Cu–Al–Mn Alloys Fabricated by Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

In this work, the method of electron beam additive manufacturing (EBAM) was used to fabricate a Cu-based alloy possessing a shape memory effect. Electron beam additive technology is especially relevant for copper and its alloys since the process is carried out in a vacuum, which makes it possible to circumvent oxidation. The main purpose of the study was to establish the influence of the printing parameters on the structure of the obtained products, their phase composition, mechanical properties, dry friction behavior, and the structure-phase gradient that formed in Cu–Al–Mn alloy samples during electron beam layer-by-layer printing. The results of the study allowed us to reveal that the structure-phase composition, the mechanical properties, and the tribological performance of the fabricated material are mainly affected by the magnitude of heat input during electron beam additive printing of Cu–Al–Mn alloy. High heat input values led to the formation of the β1′ + α decomposed structure. Low heat input values enabled the suppression of decomposition and the formation of an ordered 1 structure. The microhardness values were distributed on a gradient from 2.0 to 2.75 GPa. Fabricated samples demonstrated different behaviors in friction and wear depending on their composition and structure, with the value of the friction coefficient lying in the range between 0.1 and 0.175.

Wear and corrosion behavior of selected up-quenched and step-quenched CuZnSn shape memory alloys

“…C alloys had the least amount of the precipitate phases and relatively finer average grain structures and this may be responsible for their lower COF values. This result is by those reported by Haleem et al [17], Moskvichev et al [19], and Mohan et al [22] where it was established that wear properties of Cu-based SMAs are sensitive to the alloy composition and microstructures. The study thus concludes that the type of quenching treatment and alloy composition had an impact on wear performance since samples with a soft phase had a lower CoF.…”

“…Prashantha et al [18] showed that the wear behavior of Cu-Al-Be SMA is significantly influenced by their surface properties such as their abrasive, adhesive, and surface fatigue characteristics. Moskvichev et al [19] studied the wear behavior of Cu-Al-Mn SMA. The coefficient of friction is observed to be sensitive to the amount of soft a-phase which is dependent on the alloy composition, particularly on Mn concentration.…”