Effect of Powder Particle Size on the Fabrication of Ti-6Al-4V Using Direct Laser Metal Deposition from Elemental Powder Mixture

Abstract

Direct LMD (laser metal deposition) was used to fabricate thin-wall Ti-6Al-4V using the powder mixture of Ti-6 wt.%Al-4 wt.%V. SEM (scanning electron microscopy), OM (optical microscopy) and EDS (energy dispersive spectroscopy) were employed to examine the chemical composition and microstructure of the as-deposited sections. Vickers hardness tests were then applied to characterize the mechanical properties of the deposit samples which were fabricated using pre-mixed elemental powders. The EDS line scans indicated that the chemical composition of the samples was homogenous across the deposit. After significant analysis, some differences were observed among two sets of deposit samples which varied in the particle size of the mixing Ti-6wt.%Al-4wt.%V powder. It could be found that the set with similar particle number for Ti, Al and V powder made composition much more stable and could easily get industry qualified Ti-6Al-4V components.

A Review on Metallic Alloys Fabrication Using Elemental Powder Blends by Laser Powder Directed Energy Deposition Process

“…Hua et al, Yan et al, and Chen et al [33][34][35][36] mixed Ti, Al, and V elemental powders to fabricate Ti-6Al-4V, which proved the feasibility of making industrial alloys like Ti-6Al-4V using elemental powders in a cost-effective approach. Apart from Ti-6Al-4V, Clayton [37] applied pure Fe, Cr, and Ni powders to make Fe-based alloys similar to stainless steels such as SS316 and SS430.…”

Energy consumption in the manufacture of metal powders by vibratory disintegration methods

“…When searching for additional sources of metal, secondary raw materials are notable. For example, in the Russian metalworking industry, millions of tons of metal chips are generated annually, of which about a quarter are made of alloy steel and non-ferrous metals [3,4].…”