Effect of non-isothermal deposition on surface morphology and microstructure of uniform molten aluminum alloy droplets applied to three-dimensional printing

Non-isothermal deposition of uniform molten droplets as basic building blocks has a great influence on the geometric profile and microstructure of metallic components fabricated by the drop-based three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. In this paper, the thermal and dynamic behaviors of molten aluminum droplets during non-isothermal deposition were studied numerically and experimentally. The result shows that local solidification and interfacial re-melting occur during the initial period of non-isothermal deposition. The re-melting in microseconds depends greatly on the impacting droplet temperature, the deposition surface temperature, and the thermal contact resistance. Further, the coupling action of subsequent solidification and oscillation behaviors of aluminum droplet fixed on the target surface was also investigated. It is interesting to find that the formation and distribution of the solidified surface morphology, such as the typical micron-sized ripples, are significantly affected by layer-by-layer solidification and underdamped oscillation in the remaining molten metal. Based on the above research, a semiquantitative relationship between external morphology and internal microstructure was proposed, which was further certified by investigating the piled vertical columns. The works should be helpful for the process optimization and non-destructive detection of drop-based 3D printing techniques.