Aluminum AlSi10Mg is a lightweight aluminum casting alloy printed by DMLS metal 3D printing, so parts that would normally be cast can be made without casting tooling. Parts are strong straight off the printer, resist corrosion, carry heat well and can be made gas-tight. Cooling fins, internal channels and thin walls print as one piece, and critical faces can be machined after printing. Use it for brackets, finned housings, heat sinks, pistons and propulsion parts in aerospace, automotive, energy and clean tech.
How Aluminum AlSi10Mg is manufactured
Aluminum AlSi10Mg is manufactured using Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) on an EOS M 290 production system, which melts fine aluminum powder layer by layer with a 400 W fiber laser in a protective argon atmosphere. Precision optics with an f-theta lens maintain consistent beam quality across the entire build platform. Parts are built on supports, stress relieved where required, removed from the build plate and finished, so consolidated assemblies come out as single metal parts without casting tooling.
Upload CAD files to Forge Labs Steam for instant Aluminum AlSi10Mg pricing and live manufacturability feedback, and fix issues before production so timelines stay predictable.
Upload CAD files to Forge Labs Steam for instant Aluminum AlSi10Mg pricing and live manufacturability feedback, and fix issues before production so timelines stay predictable.
DMLS parts generally exhibit a slightly rough, matte finish due to the laser sintering process, resulting in a uniform surface texture. While this natural finish is sufficient for many functional applications, Forge Labs offers several post-processing options to enhance aesthetics, accuracy, and performance.
Support structures are carefully removed, and parts undergo shot peening to create a uniform, matte surface and help relieve residual stresses. Critical features may receive light machining for tighter tolerances.
Precision machining and polishing processes enhance surface quality, achieving tighter tolerances and smoother finishes for critical applications.
For aluminum parts, anodizing forms a protective oxide layer, significantly enhancing corrosion resistance and hardness while improving appearance.
Automotive-grade coating that enhances aesthetics and durability. Each part is hand-finished with professional-grade equipment for exceptional adhesion and custom color matching.
Aluminum AlSi10Mg combines an excellent strength-to-weight ratio for lightweight designs with high thermal conductivity for heat management and high corrosion resistance for demanding applications. From rapid prototyping to production runs, teams rely on Aluminum AlSi10Mg to reduce assembly complexity through consolidated part designs, with critical features machined to tight tolerances after printing.
DMLS delivers lightweight components with complex internal channels and thin-wall features impossible to machine. Rapid solidification forms fine silicon networks that give yield strength approaching 6061-T6, higher tensile strength and good ductility. Printed parts also serve as fast prototypes for aluminum castings.
Conformal cooling channels that follow the part contour suit heat exchangers, electronic housings with integrated cooling, heat sinks with optimized fin geometries and prototype mold inserts. Parts can be welded and finished using standard aluminum processes, so they integrate with traditional components.
EOS-validated process parameters build near-fully dense parts with consistent properties for production applications. With no tooling or minimum order quantities, Aluminum AlSi10Mg takes a design from the first metal prototype through to low-volume production.
Aerospace
Curved stator blade and hub sections printed without casting tooling, complete in about three weeks.
Energy & Power Generation
Pistons printed to shape with machined ring grooves, every one inside a ±0.002 in band.
Automotive
Finned housings and brackets that replace castings, with fins and channels built into one part.
Clean Tech
Hydrogen injector adapters and heat spreaders, with conductivity raised by heat treatment.
Robotics
Metal covers and brackets where polymer lacks stiffness, heat treated, HIPed or machined as required.
Aerospace
Aerospace teams use Aluminum AlSi10Mg for propulsion development hardware, lightweight brackets and UAV structure. For an electric aircraft program, fan stator blade and hub sections were printed with their curved surfaces and thicker hub transitions formed in one piece, with machining kept for the surfaces that need it. The sections were complete in their natural metal finish about three weeks from ordering, with no casting tooling.
Energy & Power Generation
Power generation equipment makers use Aluminum AlSi10Mg for engine pistons first drawn for machining in wrought 2618 aluminum. Each piston is printed to shape, then its ring grooves are machined to the drawing. Every piston was measured at eight features, including all three groove widths, and every reading fell inside the agreed ±0.002 in band. The pistons shipped in 13 business days, on the promised date.
Automotive
Automotive engineering teams use Aluminum AlSi10Mg for finned housings and brackets that would otherwise be cast, in prototype and low-volume production. A printed housing replaces the casting without tooling, with cooling fins and internal channels built into the same part. Electric motor housings, compressor housings and impellers, and suspension nodes follow the same route to consolidated, lighter designs.
Clean Tech
Clean tech developers use Aluminum AlSi10Mg for injector adapters in hydrogen engine conversions, and for heat spreaders, heat sinks and housings wherever a metal part has to carry heat. Heat treatment raises its thermal conductivity by about half compared with the as-built condition, so thermal parts can be specified heat treated, while flow fittings and manifolds keep their internal passages in a single printed part.
Robotics
Robotics and automation teams use Aluminum AlSi10Mg for metal covers and brackets where a polymer part is not stiff enough. The alloy suits general engineering parts subject to high loads, and a topology-optimized bracket keeps material only along its load paths, so a stiff metal mount stays light. Parts can be heat treated, HIPed or machined where the drawing requires it.
Values from the EOS Aluminium AlSi10Mg datasheets for the EOS M 290 (30 µm process unless the standard names an earlier EOS datasheet), tested to the standard listed with each property.
Mechanical performance
Aluminum AlSi10Mg delivers dependable strength in the as-built condition. Its balanced mechanical profile handles demanding load conditions without turning brittle, which suits aircraft brackets, automotive engine parts and heat exchangers.
The table lists three conditions. As built gives the highest tensile strength, with some difference between the XY and Z directions, so align load paths with the build orientation. EOS T6 trades strength for higher elongation, lower variation and nearly equal properties in both directions. Stress relief stabilizes the part before it is removed from the build plate, and gives the lowest yield strength of the three. Fatigue strength depends on geometry and surface finish, and aluminum alloys have no true fatigue limit.
Material makeup
Consistent density keeps parts lightweight yet solid and downstream finishing predictable. The very low defect level supports strength and gas-tight walls, and EOS confirms gas tightness with a helium leak test (EN 13185) on 2 mm walls.
The as-built surface carries the texture of the powder layers. Micro shot-peening evens it out, and machining or polishing finishes sealing, sliding and mating faces so assemblies fit without rework.
Heat performance
Aluminum AlSi10Mg maintains dimensional stability through temperature swings and repeated thermal cycling, from under-hood automotive components to industrial equipment exposed to heat sources. Specify EOS T6 or stress relief, the higher-conductivity conditions in the table, for heat sinks, heat exchangers and cooled housings.
Expansion is given over three temperature ranges for fit and clearance calculations where aluminum parts mate with steel or polymer parts. Strength values are measured at room temperature, so check parts that run hot against their operating temperature.
Functional performance
Electrical conductivity follows thermal conductivity and rises by about three quarters after heat treatment, which suits grounded housings, shielding features and electrically integrated metal components. Values are given in % IACS, relative to annealed copper.
Compatibility data
A protective oxide film gives Aluminum AlSi10Mg high corrosion resistance in the atmosphere and good resistance to seawater and weak acids, and it is compatible with motor oil, hydraulic fluids and fuels. Strong acids and alkaline solutions, including caustic cleaners, attack the oxide film.
EOS publishes no chemical resistance table for this alloy, so these ratings follow general aluminum corrosion behavior. Treat them as screening guidance and confirm them with application-specific testing before production release.
Compliance
EOS states that the chemical composition of its AlSi10Mg parts complies with the EN AC-43000 casting alloy in DIN EN 1706 and with ASTM F3318-18 for laser powder bed fusion AlSi10Mg, so drawings that call out either composition can be matched, and the EOS documentation goes straight into your quality packet.
Datasheets, design guidance and supplier documentation for Aluminum AlSi10Mg.
Access the most recent datasheet and supporting documentation maintained by our engineering team.
Aluminum AlSi10Mg datasheetExplore printable geometry recommendations, wall thickness tips, and finishing playbooks for DMLS.
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Aluminum AlSi10Mg is manufactured using Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) technology, providing high strength and precision for mission-critical tooling and end-use components.
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