Shock and ramp compression of an additively manufactured aluminum alloy to over 10 GPa*

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) AlSi10Mg is an additively manufactured Al alloy with the potential to replace traditional wrought Al alloys in a number of automotive and aerospace applications. We investigated the orientation-dependent dynamic response of LPBF AlSi10Mg to shock loading at peak stresses ranging from 0.9 to 13.6 GPa and quasi-isentropic ramp loading at peak stresses ranging from 4.4 to 14.8 GPa. Despite the material's significant microstructural anisotropy and documented anisotropic response to quasi-static and intermediate strain rates, we observed virtually no orientation dependence in the measured Hugoniot, Hugoniot elastic limit, spall strength, isentrope, yield strength, and shear modulus. Our results indicate that LPBF AlSi10Mg behaves similarly to standard wrought Al alloys in this dynamic loading regime.