Hybrid thermal, mechanical and chemical surface post-treatments for improved fatigue behavior of laser powder bed fusion AlSi10Mg notched samples

Complex geometries can be produced by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) techniques in a layer-by-layer manner. These parts exhibit inhomogeneous microstructure and poor surface quality in their as-built state. Performing post-treatments to modify these imperfections can play a substantial role in enhancing the performance of LPBF parts. However, the effects of post treatments on local geometrical irregularities are not still well documented. In this study, four different post-treatments including heat treatment, mechanical and chemical surface treatments as well as their combination were considered. Their effect was studied on microstructure, surface, and mechanical properties of LPBF V-notched AlSi10Mg samples. The as-built samples were subjected to two different shot peening processes (using different Almen intensity, shot diameter, and shot hardness), chemical polishing and electro-chemical polishing, in individual and combined configurations. Comprehensive microstructural characterization was carried out and the surface state of the samples was studied in detail in terms of surface morphology and roughness. In addition, mechanical properties including microhardness and residual stresses were measured and finally the fatigue behaviors of the samples were analyzed and compared at a constant stress level. All post treatments led to improved fatigue life. The combination of the aforementioned post-treatments led to a remarkable fatigue life improvement up to 414 times higher compared to the as-built state.