Selective Laser Melting of Aluminum and Its Alloys.

The laser-based powder bed fusion (LBPF) process or commonly known as selective laser melting (SLM) has made significant progress since its inception. Initially, conventional materials like 316L, Ti6Al4V, and IN-718 were fabricated using the SLM process. However, it was inevitable to explore the possible fabrication of the second most popular structural material after Fe-based alloys/steel, the Al-based alloys by SLM.

Mechanical Alloying: A Novel Technique to Synthesize Advanced Materials.

Mechanical alloying is a solid-state powder processing technique that involves repeated cold welding, fracturing, and rewelding of powder particles in a high-energy ball mill. Originally developed about 50 years ago to produce oxide-dispersion-strengthened Ni- and Fe-based superalloys for aerospace and high temperature applications, it is now recognized as an important technique to synthesize metastable and advanced materials with a high potential for widespread applications. The metastable materials produced include supersaturated solid solutions, intermediate phases, quasicrystalline phases, amorphous alloys, and high-entropy alloys.