Exploiting top ductile B2/β layers to in-situ cold-forging Ti–22Al–25Nb alloy manufactured by laser melting deposition

Abstract

Ti–22Al–25Nb intermetallic alloy is the latest generation of lightweight aerospace material with superior high-temperature performance. In the present study, a novel hybrid 3D-printing technique, point-forging and laser-deposition (PF-LD), was adopted for demonstrating its possibility in the preparation of near-net-shaping Ti–22Al–25Nb component. We innovatively exploited the top ductile B2/β-phase-zone as a natural protective layer, successfully preparing Ti–22Al–25Nb intermetallic parts with relatively larger build-height without initiating any macro-micro cracks. Three groups of control trials were further performed to ascertain the effect of initial laser parameters on microstructural characteristic and mechanical performance. Among three deposition strategies, the sample with intermediate laser scanning rate reached the best combination of ultimate tensile strength (UTS: ∼ 1280.7 MPa) and elongation after failure (EL: ∼ 5.7 %), while superior tensile strength (UTS: ∼ 1314.8 MPa) could be also achieved at the expense of tensile ductility (EL: ∼ 2.4 %). This study not only reveals a new idea to low-temperature forming Ti–22Al–25Nb alloy, but also provides an insight into the relationship between PF-LD processing parameters and mechanical performance.