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Effect of Build Orientation on Metallurgical and Mechanical Properties of Additively Manufactured Ti-6Al-4V Alloy

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Abstract

The additive manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V alloy components has become popular in the fields of aerospace and biomedical devices. One of the most difficult aspects of additive manufacturing is fabrication of components with reproducible metallurgical and mechanical properties in different build orientations. This article presents a comprehensive study on the effect of build orientation in laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF) technique of additive manufacturing. The additively manufactured samples were also heat treated to relieve the residual stress. In the as-built condition, the 0° build-oriented flat sample (with build direction along thickness) exhibited high tensile strength of 1202 MPa as well as high microhardness of 481 HV, but low ductility. The upright (90° build-oriented) samples had the largest elongation of 8% but low density (4.336 g/cm3) and high tensile residual stress of 163 MPa. Inclined (45° build orientation) sample provides the least tensile residual stress in as-built condition but not after the heat treatment. Defects like pores, un-melted or partially melted powder particles, and cracks contribute to the low tensile strength and high surface roughness in various build orientations. The associated residual stresses are reduced by heat treatment but at the expense of some loss in strength. The fracture mechanism is dependent on the growth direction of the microstructure. This study points out toward the necessity of considering build orientation as an important decision variable in the process optimization.

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Data Availability

The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time as the data also forms part of an ongoing study.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Central Instrument Facility (CIF), Metallurgical Engineering Department, IIT (BHU), and IIT Bombay for providing measurement facilities required to carry out this research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221005, India

    Pankaj Kumar Singh & Santosh Kumar

  2. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India

    Pramod Kumar Jain

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India

    Uday Shanker Dixit

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  1. Pankaj Kumar Singh
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Contributions

PKS: Conceptualization, investigation, methodology, and writing; SK: Conceptualization, investigation, methodology, writing, supervision and editing; PKJ: Supervision, review and editing; USD: Interpretation of results, checking the accuracy and technical writing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Santosh Kumar.

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Singh, P.K., Kumar, S., Jain, P.K. et al. Effect of Build Orientation on Metallurgical and Mechanical Properties of Additively Manufactured Ti-6Al-4V Alloy. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 33, 3476–3493 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-023-08218-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-023-08218-4

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