In recent years, additively manufactured AlSi10Mg has received widespread attention for its use as an aerospace-grade material. It can be used in engine components, structural parts, and tooling and ground support equipment. During operation, the materials experience impact-induced fracture due to foreign object damage and dynamic or shock loading. The fracture behavior of these functional components under dynamic loading is critical to their structural reliability. However, it remains challenging to quantify fracture structure due to the complex, process-inherent anisotropy and defect distributions in the materials produced using this manufacturing technique. In this investigation, a laser powder bed fusion-based additive manufacturing technique is used to prepare aluminum samples at different building orientations. The aluminum AlSi10Mg samples were fabricated in two build orientations: 0◦ and 90◦ with a global energy density of 37.1 J/mm3. The impact fracture was produced by a pendulum strike using a Charpy impact tester. The fractured surface of the samples was analyzed using a digital microscope. We used a box counting method to evaluate the fractal dimensions of the fractured surface of the samples. Profile data were developed using a 3D digital microscope. The data were analyzed for three different regions: compression, neutral, and tension zones during crack propagation. The results showed that the fractal dimension is influenced by the materials' build orientations. The three zones on the fractured surface showed significant dependence on manufacturing design during crack propagation.
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Impact-Induced Fracture in Additively Manufactured AlSi10Mg Using a Fractal Approach
Published:
13 April 2026
by MDPI
in The 1st International Online Conference on Aerospace
session Next-Gen Aircraft Design & Optimization
Abstract:
Keywords: Aluminum alloy, Fracture, Dynamic, Impact loading, Fractal dimension
