Local adaptation of aluminum blanks through laser de-alloying and wire alloying

Local adaptation of aluminum blanks through laser de-alloying and wire alloying

Marcel Stephan, Henrik Zieroth, Simona Samland, Dominic Bartels, Marion Merklein, Michael Schmidt

Abstract. The 7xxx series aluminum alloys, renowned for their exceptional specific strength, are promising materials for automotive manufacturing. Despite their advantages, the widespread application of these alloys is inhibited by their low formability. The high strength but low formability is caused by Zn and Mg precipitations, which hinder dislocation motion. In this study, the local adaption of the elemental composition of aluminum blanks through selective evaporation and alloying via auxiliary wire is investigated. A high-power laser is used for melting and evaporating low boiling elements such as Mg and Zn while adding AlSi5 in parallel to improve formability in the forming zone. The resulting element distribution is studied and correlated with the applied process conditions, to gain an insight on the possibilities and limitations of the laser induced alloy adaption.

Keywords
Laser Welding, Aluminum, Hybrid Manufacturing

Published online 4/1/2025, 9 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA

Citation: Marcel Stephan, Henrik Zieroth, Simona Samland, Dominic Bartels, Marion Merklein, Michael Schmidt, Local adaptation of aluminum blanks through laser de-alloying and wire alloying, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 52, pp 365-373, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903551-45

The article was published as article 45 of the book Sheet Metal 2025

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

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