Microstructure Evaluation of Ti-6Al-4V Fabricated by Additive Manufacturing Process

Bagheri, M. A., Seely, D. W., Shamsaei, N., & Thompson, S.M. (2015). Microstructure Evaluation of Ti-6Al-4V Fabricated by Additive Manufacturing Process. TMS 2015 144th Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Orlando, FL: TMS.

The effect of Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS®) process parameters on the resultant microstructure of Ti-6Al-4V components is experimentally investigated. LENS®, a direct deposit, laser-based additive fabrication technology, is employed using an OPTOMEC 750 machine to create various parts of similar geometry. LENS® can directly build complex 3D components from metal powders in a combined deposition/laser-melting step. Additive-manufactured components will have different mechanical properties which are directly affected by the manufacturing processing parameters. Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) will be used to characterize the microstructure of the components that are built via various LENS® process parameters. The mechanical microhardness will also be measured. The specimens will be manufactured in cylindrical shapes by using various combinations of manufacturing parameters such as powder feeding rate (1-18 g/min), scanning velocity rate (4-35 mm/s) and laser power rate (0.1-1.0 kW). The apparent correlations between LENS® process parameters and the microstructure of the specimens will be presented.