The Effect of Post-Processing on the Mechanical Behavior of Ti6Al4V Manufactured by Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion for General Aviation Primary Structural Applications

Abstract

In this work a mechanical characterization of Ti6Al4V processed by electron beam powder bed fusion additive manufacturing was carried out to investigate the viability of this technology for the manufacturing of flyable parts for general aviation aircraft. Tests were performed on different manufacturing conditions in order to investigate the effect of post processing as machining on the mechanical behavior. The study provides useful information to airframe designers and manufacturing specialists that work with this technology. The investigation confirms the low process variability and provides data to be used in the design loop of general aviation primary structural elements. The test results show a high level of repeatability indicating that the process is well controlled and reliable enough to match the airworthiness requirements. In addition, the so-called “as-built specimens”, i.e., specimens produced by the electron beam melting machine without any major post-processing, have lower mechanical performances than specimens subjected to a machining phase after the electron beam melting process. Specific primary structural elements will be designed and flight cleared, resulting from the findings presented herein.

The Effect of Postprocessing on the Fatigue Properties of Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-1Cr-1Fe Produced Using Electron Beam Melting

“…In recent years, additive manufacturing (AM) has found more and more applications in various fields such as the medical industry and—most notably—the aerospace industry [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The growing interest in these technologies is due to the fact that they make it possible to produce parts with complex geometries that are difficult or even impossible to produce using traditional cavity manufacturing processes.…”

“…The growing interest in these technologies is due to the fact that they make it possible to produce parts with complex geometries that are difficult or even impossible to produce using traditional cavity manufacturing processes. One such technology is Electron Beam Melting (PBF-EB/M) [ 1 , 2 , 3 ], which uses a highly focused electron beam with a high energy density to selectively melt metallic powder in a layered fashion. This ensures that only the material that is actually needed to make the components is used to produce net shape parts.…”

Physical, thermal and tensile behaviour of 3D printed kenaf/PLA to suggest its usability for ankle–foot orthosis – a preliminary study

“…Several sectors have implemented this technology, such as medicine (Soltanzadeh et al , 2020), construction (Rivera et al , 2020) and aerospace (Pirozzi et al , 2020). The expansion of 3D printing research has caused a surge increment in material studies to fulfil the requirements needed by certain applications.…”