Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Ti-6Al-4V Fabricated by Electron Beam Melting

Abstract

Electron beam melting technique is a kind of near-net shaping, environmentally friendly metal additive manufacturing technique, which can form high-performance metal parts with complex shapes. It has been widely applied in the aerospace industry, biomedical application, automobile manufacturing, and other fields. Ti-6Al-4V is the most widely researched and applied alloy in the additive manufacturing field, but its microstructure is diverse, and its mechanical properties vary greatly. In this study, the effect of process parameters on the microstructure and the resulting mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy was researched. The results show that the yield strength of Ti-6Al-4V alloy with a bimodal microstructure is higher than those with a basketweave microstructure. Energy dispersion spectrum (EDS) line scan and area scan results show that there is no element enrichment for the specimens with the highest yield strength. A speed factor of less than 40 is a must for obtaining relatively dense Ti-6Al-4V parts built with electron beam melting. We have done basic research for the subsequent manufacturing of complex shape parts, which is helpful to promote the application of electron beam melting technology in the aerospace field.