Effect Of Loading Direction On Tensile And Fracture Behavior Of 6061 Al Alloy Produced By Binder Jetting

Binder Jetting of Al alloys can open new scenarios for the additive manufacturing of many alloys that cannot be processed by laser-based printing technologies because of the susceptibility to hot cracking (e.g., 2xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx series alloys). In this study, 6061 Al alloy samples were produced by Binder Jetting. The debinding and sintering parameters were fine-tuned and the tensile and fracture properties of the samples were assessed. Compact tension C(T) fracture specimens were notched in three different crack-plane orientations. Microstructural and fractographic analyses were performed using FE-SEM and LOM. The Al 6061-T6 alloy produced by BJ exhibited very low mechanical anisotropy. The tensile properties are in line with those reported for wrought Al 6061-T6, with a lower elongation at fracture. Brittle fracture occurred in all the crack orientations, with negligible stable crack growth and toughness values corresponding to half of those for hot-extruded Al 6061-T6 along the longitudinal direction.