Abstract
Additive manufacturing (AM) of refractory materials requires either a high laser power or the use of various easily melting binders. In this work, we propose an alternative—the use of spherical reactive Ti/Al composite particles, obtained by preliminary high-energy ball milling. These powders were used to produce high-temperature TiAl-based materials during the selective laser melting (SLM) process. When laser heating is applied, mechanically activated composite particles readily react with the release of a considerable amount of heat and transform into corresponding intermetallic compounds. The combustion can be initiated at relatively low temperatures, and the exothermic effect prevents the sharp cooling of as-sintered tracks. This approach allows one to produce dense intermetallic materials with a homogeneous structure in one step via SLM and eliminates the need for powerful lasers, binders, or additional post-processing and heat treatments.
Highlights
Additive manufacturing (AM), known as 3D printing or selective laser printing, is a rapidly developing technique capable of fabricating a wide range of structures and complex geometries by laser-driven printing of successive layers of materials on top of each other
The attempts of 3D printing from atomized Ti-Al powders using electron beam melting (EBM) and selective laser melting (SLM) showed that, along with the aluminum evaporation, prepared materials often suffer from cracks, which are caused by high cooling rates during the process
The sample obtained at v = 75 mm/s (Figure 3b) has a similar structure but a higher porosity (2%), which can be associated with the higher scan rate
Summary
Additive manufacturing (AM), known as 3D printing or selective laser printing, is a rapidly developing technique capable of fabricating a wide range of structures and complex geometries by laser-driven printing of successive layers of materials on top of each other. The attempts of 3D printing from atomized Ti-Al powders using electron beam melting (EBM) and SLM showed that, along with the aluminum evaporation, prepared materials often suffer from cracks, which are caused by high cooling rates during the process Another issue is that the obtained materials exhibit metastable and inhomogeneous structures [8]. Its advantages include the possibility of obtaining gradient structures and reducing the requirements to the laser power necessary for powder melting since additional heat is released during the process due to the exothermic reaction [9]. In this case, both pre-alloyed powders and a mixture of pure elements can serve as the initial components. It is worth noting that SLM of such reactive particles obtained by mechanical treatment in a ball-mill is carried out for the first time
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