Selective laser melting of SiCp/Al composites: Densification, microstructure, and mechanical and tribological properties

In this paper, SiCp/Al composites were successfully fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM), and the dependence of phase composition, densification behavior, and mechanical properties of the composites on laser power was researched and discussed. The results showed that the density, microhardness and friction resistance of the SLM formed SiCp/Al composites were enhanced with increasing the laser power density, which may be caused by the higher molten pool temperature at higher laser power density. When SiCp/Al composites were prepared at 400 W with a scanning speed of 300 mm/s, the highest relative density of approximately 91.1 % and microhardness of approximately 191 HV0.1 (more than six times higher than that of the selective laser melted pure Al specimens, 191 HV0.1 vs 31 HV0.1) were obtained, and the minimum wear rate and friction coefficient were 1.31 × ×10−5 mm3 N−1 m−1 and 0.38, respectively.