Digital light processing 3D printing of AlSi10Mg powder modified by surface coating

Abstract This paper proposed a kind of aluminum alloy powder additive manufacturing technology through surface modification of AlSi10Mg particles and digital light processing (DLP) printing. Firstly, AlSi10Mg particles were coated by styrene through suspension polymerization. The TEM results showed that the coating thickness is approximately 200 nm to 400 nm. Secondly, printing slurry was prepared by mixing photocurable acrylate resin with AlSi10Mg powder. The printing experiments showed that the curing depth of the printing slurry was obviously improved after surface coating of AlSi10Mg power. And the reason was discussed in detail. Then, the photocuring behavior and viscosity of the printing slurry were tested and analyzed. Finally, complex structures of AlSi10Mg material were successfully fabricated by digital light processing. It is demonstrated that surface modification is a feasible method for the photocurable printing of ultrafine alloy powder, which can also be expanded to the additive manufacturing of other alloy systems.