Metal additive manufacturing has been a revolutionary step in designing new complex shapes with a faster and cleaner building capacity in comparison to subtractive manufacturing processes. The ability to print lightweight alloys such as aluminum and titanium has made metal 3D printing attractive to different industries, from aerospace to the energy sector, as well as bioengineering. Of particular interest are the mechanical and microstructural properties of AlSi10Mg_200C aluminum alloys. In this project, samples in both vertical and horizontal directions were printed using an EOS M290 machine and both recycled and virgin AlSi10Mg_200C powder through Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) technique. Uniaxial tensile trials as well as hardness tests were carried out to investigate the mechanical properties and to study the repeatability of the process. The fracture surface of the tensile samples was examined using SEM to study the failure mechanism in quasi-static loading conditions. Using optical microscopy, the porosity of the DMLS-AlSi10Mg_200C samples was measured, where uniform properties were observed. The previously listed tests were compared to those using similar cast counterpart, i.e. A360.0 as well as studies performed using samples manufactured with virgin powder. This was important as to gauge whether it is plausible that additive manufacturing could replace some casting procedures if similar mechanical properties are gained. Finally, the dynamic behaviour of DMLS-AlSi10Mg_200C samples subject to high strain shock loading was also studied where constitutive models were developed to encompass the anisotropic behaviour of the material.
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