About the project
This project aims to unlock stronger 3D-printed metals. It pioneers new heat-treatment strategies to recover and even surpass the strength of additively manufactured light alloys. Using advanced microscopy, modelling and mechanical testing, you’ll design process–microstructure-properties maps that transform low-strength printed parts into high-performance components for aerospace, transport and hydrogen technologies.
is a rapidly emerging solid-state additive manufacturing that avoids melting and solidification. By combining intense frictional heating and severe plastic deformation, AFSD can fabricate fully dense metallic components with fine, equiaxed grains. However, when age-hardenable alloys are processed, the intense deformation and elevated temperature dissolve the fine strengthening precipitates and trigger over-ageing or coarsening. As a result, as-deposited components are typically 30–50 % softer than the wrought feedstock despite having refined and equiaxed grains.
This project aims to design and validate post-build heat treatments that restore or surpass ≥100 % of wrought strength in AFSD aluminium and magnesium alloys by re-engineering precipitate populations while retaining dynamic recrystallisation-refined grains.
This project aims to:
- map the as-built state: quantify precipitate dissolution, grain size and orientation gradients vs. AFSD process parameters using our existing 18-parameter dataset
- develop tailored heat-treatment strategies: test direct ageing (DA), solution–quench–age (SQA), and stepped ageing to refine precipitates without excessive grain growth
- build predictive models: link AFSD thermal/strain history to precipitation kinetics to recommend heat-treatment windows for strength recovery
- validate mechanical performance: recover yield/ultimate tensile strength and hardness at room temperatures and benchmark anisotropy against wrought data
The expected outcomes of the project are the following:
- Scientific: first integrated processing → microstructure → heat treatment → property maps for AFSD, enabling predictive design of strengthening treatments
- technological: turn low-strength as-built AFSD Al and Mg into high-performance, structural parts for industry applications
