Abstract
Titanium orthorhombic alloys based on intermetallic Ti2AlNb-phase are attractive materials for lightweight high-temperature applications. However, conventional manufacturing of Ti2AlNb-based alloys is costly and labor-consuming. Additive Manufacturing is an attractive way of producing parts from Ti2AlNb-based alloys. High-temperature substrate preheating during Selective Laser Melting is required to obtain crack-free intermetallic alloys. Due to the nature of substrate preheating, the temperature profile along the build height might be uneven leading to inhomogeneous microstructure and defects. The microstructural homogeneity of the alloy along the build direction was evaluated. The feasibility of mitigating the microstructural inhomogeneity was investigated by fabricating Ti2AlNb-alloy samples with graded microstructure and subjecting them to annealing. Hot isostatic pressing allowed us to achieve a homogeneous microstructure, eliminate residual micro defects, and improve mechanical properties with tensile strength reaching 1027 MPa and 860 MPa at room temperature and 650 °C, correspondingly. Annealing of the microstructurally graded alloy at 1050 °C allowed us to obtain a homogeneous B2 + O microstructure with a uniform microhardness distribution. The results of the study showed that the microstructural inhomogeneity of the titanium orthorhombic alloy obtained by SLM can be mitigated by annealing or hot isostatic pressing. Additionally, it was shown that by applying multiple-laser exposure for processing each layer it is possible to locally tailor the phase volume and morphology and achieve microstructure and properties similar to the Ti2AlNb-alloy obtained at higher preheating temperatures.
Highlights
Elemental powder blends were used in the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process without high-temperature platform preheating to fabricate a Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy via in situ synthesis [10,11]
Microstructural Inhomogeneity of the Alloy Obtained with a High-Temperature
± 15 the uneven temperature distribution might lead to inhomogeneous microstructures and formation of micro defects
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Elemental powder blends were used in the SLM process without high-temperature platform preheating to fabricate a Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy via in situ synthesis [10,11] While this approach allowed for the obtainment of a Ti2 AlNb-based alloy, the mechanical properties were poor due to cracking of the alloy. As shown in [8], Ti-22Al-25Nb alloy fabricated by laser AM technology without platform preheating exhibited inhomogeneous microstructure and properties along the building direction due to the thermal history of the process. The issue of microstructural homogeneity of orthorhombic titanium alloys along the building direction obtained by SLM with high-temperature platform preheating has not been investigated so far. It was established that applying a scanning strategy with multiple-laser exposure can be used to tailor morphology and volume fraction of the Ti2 AlNb-based alloy and to obtain the alloy with microstructure and properties similar to the alloy produced with a higher-platform preheating temperature
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