Investigation of surface integrity of selective laser melting additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy under ultrasonic elliptical vibration-assisted ultra-precision cutting

Additive manufacturing technology has been widely used in aviation, aerospace, automobiles and other fields due to the fact that near-net-shaped components with unprecedented geometric freedom can be fabricated. Additively manufactured aluminum alloy has received a lot of attention, due to its excellent material properties. However, the finished surface of additively manufactured aluminum alloy with nanoscale surface roughness is quite challenging and rarely addressed. In this paper, a novel machining technology known as ultrasonic elliptical vibration-assisted cutting (UEVC) was adopted to suppress the generation of cracks, improve the surface integrity and reduce tool wear during the ultra-precision machining of selective laser melting (SLM) additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy. The experimental results revealed that, in the conventional cutting (CC) process, surface defects, such as particles, pores and grooves, appeared on the machined surface, and the machined surface rapidly deteriorated with the increase in cumulative cutting area. In contrast, an almost flawless machined surface was obtained in the UEVC process, and its roughness value was less than 10 nm. Moreover, the tool wear of the CC tool was remarkably greater than that of the UEVC tool, and the standard flank wear width of the CC tool was more than twice that of the UEVC tool. Therefore, the UEVC technology is considered to be a feasible method for the ultra-precision machining of SLM additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy.