Effects of processing parameters and post-process heat treatment on selective laser melted SiC/AlSi10Mg composites

• Novel SiC/AlSi10Mg composites were fabricated by SLM. • Highly improved superior yield strength of 303 MPa was achieved. • Heat-treated samples showed further improved density and tensile elongation. • Precipitation hardening, dispersion and solid-solution strengthening are revealed. In this letter, SiC/AlSi10Mg composites have been fabricated under different selective laser melting (SLM) processing parameters, and then heat-treated for the microstructure and property tailoring. The resulted effects on densification responses, phase constituents, microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of the SiC/AlSi10Mg composites are analyzed and discussed in detail. The results showed that the highest densification and tensile strength were achieved due to the precipitation hardening of Si and Mg 2 Si, dispersion strengthening of SiC and solid-solution strengthening of α -Al. After kept at 300 °C for 2 h, the ductility of the sample improved significantly with certain sacrifice of tensile strength due to the precipitation of β -Al 4.5 FeSi, coarsening of Si particles and weakened solid-solution effects from supersaturated α -Al.