Additive Manufacturing Of Metallic Components Research Articles

Additive Manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V Using a Pulsed Laser Beam

Microstructural development in directed-energy additive manufacturing of metal components is a complex process that produces parts with materials whose microstructure and properties are influenced by multiple heating and cooling cycles. Much work has been undertaken to correlate microstructural development with processing conditions, such as laser power and processing speed. Here, the microstructure and indentation hardness of a Ti-6Al-4V component processed with a pulsing laser beam and a continuous wave (CW) laser beam are investigated. It is found that the pulsed-beam build showed no statistically significant variation in lath width or indentation hardness with build height while the build deposited with the CW beam showed a statistically significant decrease in hardness and an increase in lath width near the middle of the build. The reduction in variability with beam pulsing is attributed to rapid cooling rates within the melt pool, a greater degree of melt pool stirring, and reduced aging during part build-up.

Toward an integrated computational system for describing the additive manufacturing process for metallic materials

The ability to simulate the thermal, mechanical, and material response in additive manufacturing offers tremendous utility for gaining a deeper understanding of the process, while also having significant practical application. The approach and progress in establishing an integrated computational system for simulating additive manufacturing of metallic components are discussed, with the primary focus directed at the computational intensive components, which include the process and material models. The ability to experimentally measure key characteristics for verification of the models is also presented and is seen as critical in the development of the integrated computational system. Two examples are also presented that utilize the current features of the analyses techniques for exploring and applying additive manufacturing technology.

Laser additive manufacturing of metallic components: materials, processes and mechanisms

Unlike conventional materials removal methods, additive manufacturing (AM) is based on a novel materials incremental manufacturing philosophy. Additive manufacturing implies layer by layer shaping and consolidation of powder feedstock to arbitrary configurations, normally using a computer controlled laser. The current development focus of AM is to produce complex shaped functional metallic components, including metals, alloys and metal matrix composites (MMCs), to meet demanding requirements from aerospace, defence, automotive and biomedical industries. Laser sintering (LS), laser melting (LM) and laser metal deposition (LMD) are presently regarded as the three most versatile AM processes. Laser based AM processes generally have a complex non-equilibrium physical and chemical metallurgical nature, which is material and process dependent. The influence of material characteristics and processing conditions on metallurgical mechanisms and resultant microstructural and mechanical properties of AM processed components needs to be clarified. The present review initially defines LS/LM/LMD processes and operative consolidation mechanisms for metallic components. Powder materials used for AM, in the categories of pure metal powder, prealloyed powder and multicomponent metals/alloys/MMCs powder, and associated densification mechanisms during AM are addressed. An in depth review is then presented of material and process aspects of AM, including physical aspects of materials for AM and microstructural and mechanical properties of AM processed components. The overall objective is to establish a relationship between material, process, and metallurgical mechanism for laser based AM of metallic components.