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Electrum metal5/6/2023 ![]() ![]() The overall AlSi10Mg alloy properties make the material ideally suitable for processing using the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) AM technology and adoption of the alloy by many industries, including the aerospace and automotive sectors. Additive manufacturing has been used for various materials, including metals and their alloys. Recently, additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have been applied for fabricating lightweight parts of simple and complex shapes to be used by different engineering sectors. The results indicate that the developed coatings yield satisfactory quality, and the suggested surface finishing process can be used for many AM products and applications.Ī high strength/weight ratio, lighter weights, and higher corrosion resistance of aluminum alloys enable their easy replacement for other materials in different engineering applications. Various methods were used to examine the coating quality, including light microscopy, optical profilometry, XRD, X-ray fluorescence, SEM–energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), focused ion beam (FIB)-SEM, and XPS analyses. The metals were deposited on 3D-printed disk-shaped specimens at 80 and 90 ☌ using a dedicated surface activation method where special functionalization of the printed AlSi10Mg was performed to assure a uniform catalytic surface yielding a good adhesion of the deposited metal to the substrate. Gold, silver, and their alloys were chosen as coatings due to their esthetic appearance, good corrosion resistance, and excellent electrical and thermal conductivity. The AlSi10Mg parts were produced by the additive manufacturing laser powder bed fusion (AM-LPBF) process. This deposition technique is simple and low cost method, allowing the metallization of both conductive and insulating materials. This study aims to review novel environmental-friendly surface finishing process of 3D-printed AlSi10Mg parts by electroless deposition of gold, silver, and gold–silver alloy (e.g., electrum) and to propose a full process methodology suitable for effective metallization. Additive manufactured parts often need post-printing surface modification. ![]() They allow low-cost manufacturing of parts with complex geometries and short time-to-market of products that can be exclusively customized. Additive manufacturing (AM) revolutionary technologies open new opportunities and challenges. ![]()
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