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Influences of processing parameters and heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical behavior of Ti-6Al-4V fabricated using selective laser melting

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Abstract

Selective laser melting (SLM) has provided an alternative to the conventional fabrication techniques for Ti-6Al-4V alloy parts because of its flexibility and ease in creating complex features. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of the process parameters and heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V fabricated using SLM. The influences of various process parameters on the relative density, tensile properties, impact toughness, and hardness of Ti-6Al-4V alloy parts were studied. By employing parameter optimization, a high-density high-strength Ti-6Al-4V alloy was fabricated by SLM. A relative density of 99.45%, a tensile strength of 1 188 MPa, and an elongation to failure of 9.5% were achieved for the SLM-fabricated Ti-6Al-4V alloy with optimized parameters. The effects of annealing and solution aging heat treatment on the mechanical properties, phase composition, and microstructure of the SLM-fabricated Ti-6Al-4V alloy were also studied. The ductility of the heat-treated Ti-6Al-4V alloy was improved. By applying a heat treatment at 850 °C for 2 h, followed by furnace cooling, the elongation to failure and impact toughness were found to be increased from 9.5% to 12.5%, and from 24.13 J/cm2 to 47.51 J/cm2, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the Major Scientific and Technological Project of Shandong Province (Grant No. 2019GGX104006), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. ZR2020ME159), and the Construction Engineering Special Fund of “Taishan Scholars” of Shandong Province (Grant No. ts20190975).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Mechanical Engineering Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, People’s Republic of China

    Qi-Dong Sun, Jie Sun, Kai Guo & Saad Waqar

  2. Research Centre for Aeronautical Component Manufacturing Technology and Equipment, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, People’s Republic of China

    Qi-Dong Sun, Jie Sun, Kai Guo & Saad Waqar

  3. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, People’s Republic of China

    Jiang-Wei Liu

  4. School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, People’s Republic of China

    Lei-Shuo Wang

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  1. Qi-Dong Sun
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  2. Jie Sun
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  3. Kai Guo
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Correspondence to Kai Guo.

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Sun, QD., Sun, J., Guo, K. et al. Influences of processing parameters and heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical behavior of Ti-6Al-4V fabricated using selective laser melting. Adv. Manuf. 10, 520–540 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40436-022-00389-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40436-022-00389-y

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