Internal/External Surface Finishing of Additively Manufactured Aluminum-6061-RAM2 Components

Metal Additive manufacturing (AM) offers many benefits to the aerospace industry, and by extension, to the Air Force. Some benefits include reduced manufacturing time and cost due to part consolidation, as well as improved part lightweighting that can in turn, yield improvements in part performance, reduced launch times and maintenance costs. An alloy of significant interest to the Air Force as well as the aerospace industry is the Aluminum 6000 (Al-6000) series, due to the combination of strength to weight, thermal conductivity, ease of machining, and low cost. Nonetheless, successful printing of Al-6000 while maintaining the material properties remains a challenge; consequently, Elementum 3D developed Al-6061-RAM2, an alloy to be used in AM while reproducing the material properties of the Al-6000 series. This proposal will validate the efficacy of the developed surface finishing technique and alloy-based processing chemistry by providing evidence-based recommendations as to how to print Al-6061-RAM2 specimens, and which characterization parameters and surface finishing methods have the potential to positively affect and accurately predict the material performance and demonstrate an improvement in material properties.  Further, the development of an optimized finishing technique will allow for implementation of AM Al-6061-RAM2 printing of components for improved AF fleet sustainment.