Aluminum alloys, known for their high strength-to-weight ratios and impressive electrical and thermal conductivities, are extensively used in numerous engineering sectors, such as aerospace, automotive, and construction. Recently, significant efforts have been made to develop novel aluminum alloys specifically tailored for additive manufacturing. These new alloys aim to provide an optimal balance between mechanical properties and thermal/ electrical conductivities. In this study, nine combinatorial samples with various alloy compositions were fabricated using direct energy deposition (DED) additive manufacturing by adjusting the feeding speeds of Al6061 alloy and Al-12Si alloy powders. The effects of the alloying elements on the microstructure, electrical conductivity, and hardness were investigated. Generally, as the Si and Cu contents decreased, electrical conductivity increased and hardness decreased, exhibiting trade-off characteristics. However, electrical conductivity and hardness showed an optimal combination when the Si content was adjusted to below 4.5 wt%, which can sufficiently suppress the grain boundary segregation of the α- Si precipitates, and the Cu content was controlled to induce the formation of Al₂Cu precipitates.

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• Trends in Materials Modeling and Computation for Metal Additive Manufacturing
  Seoyeon Jeon, Hyunjoo Choi
  journal of Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute.2024; 31(3): 213.     CrossRef
• The Challenges and Advances in Recycling/Re-Using Powder for Metal 3D Printing: A Comprehensive Review
  Alex Lanzutti, Elia Marin
  Metals.2024; 14(8): 886.     CrossRef
• Microstructural Effects on the Mechanical Properties of Ti-6Al-4V Fabricated by Direct Energy Deposition
  Juho Kim, Seoyeon Jeon, Hwajin Park, Taeyoel Kim, Hyunjoo Choi
  Journal of Powder Materials.2024; 31(4): 302.     CrossRef

The Ag/WC electrical contacts were prepared via powder metallurgy using 60 wt% Ag, 40 wt% WC, and small amounts of Co₃O₄ with varying WC particle sizes. After the fabrication of the contact materials, microstructure observations confirmed that WC-1 had an average grain size (AGS) of 0.27 μm, and WC-2 had an AGS of 0.35 μm. The Ag matrix in WC-1 formed fine grains, whereas a significantly larger and continuous growth of the Ag matrix was observed in WC-2. This indicates the different flow behaviors of liquid Ag during the sintering process owing to the different WC sizes. The electrical conductivities of WC-1 and WC-2 were 47.8% and 60.4%, respectively, and had a significant influence on the Ag matrix. In particular, WC-2 exhibited extremely high electrical conductivity owing to its large and continuous Ag-grain matrix. The yield strengths of WC-1 and WC-2 after compression tests were 349.9 MPa and 280.7 MPa, respectively. The high yield strength of WC-1 can be attributed to the Hall–Petch effect, whereas the low yield strength of WC-2 can be explained by the high fraction of high-angle boundaries (HAB) between the WC grains. Furthermore, the relationships between the microstructure, electrical/mechanical properties, and deformation mechanisms were evaluated.

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• Enhanced Epoxy Composites Reinforced by 3D-Aligned Aluminum Borate Nanowhiskers
  Hyunseung Song, Kiho Song, Haejin Hwang, Changui Ahn
  Materials.2024; 17(19): 4727.     CrossRef

Transparent conducting electrodes (TCEs) are attracting considerable attention as an important component for emerging optoelectronic applications such as liquid crystal displays, touch panels, and solar cells owing to their attractive combination of low resistivity (< 10^-3 Ω cm) and high transparency (>80%) in the visible region. The solutionbased process has unique properties of an easy fabrication procedure, scalability, and low cost compared to the conventional vacuum-based process and may prove to be a useful process for fabricating TCEs for future optoelectronic applications demanding large scale and flexibility. In this paper, we focus on the introduction of a solution-based process for TCEs. In addition, we consider the powder materials used to fabricate solution-based TCEs and strategies to improve their transparent conducting properties.

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• Electrically conductive and anti-corrosive coating on copper foil assisted by polymer-nanocomposites embedded with graphene
  Han Kim, Hyemin Lee, Hyo-Ryoung Lim, Hong-Baek Cho, Yong-Ho Choa
  Applied Surface Science.2019; 476: 123.     CrossRef