Modification of Mechanical Properties in Directed Energy Deposition by a Static Magnetic Field: Experimental and Theoretical Analysis

The superimposed magnetic field affects the microstructure and mechanical properties of additively manufactured metal parts. In this work, the samples were fabricated from Inconel 718 superalloy by directed energy deposition under a 0.2 T static field. The magnetohydrodynamic 1D model is proposed for the estimation of a fluid flow inside a molten pool. According to the theoretical predictions, the fluid flow is slightly decreased by an applied field. The estimated thermoelectric magnetic convection in the mushy zone is shown to be negligible to change in subgrain size, but enough to reduce the hard-to-dissolve Nb-rich phase, thereby improving the average ultimate elongation from 23% to 27%. The obtained results confirm that an external static magnetic field can modify and enhance the mechanical properties of additively manufactured materials.     

Investigation of Post-Processing of Additively Manufactured Nitinol Smart Springs with Plasma-Electrolytic Polishing

Additive manufacturing of Nitinol is a promising field, as it can circumvent the challenges associated with its conventional production processes and unlock unique advantages. However, the accompanying surface features such as powder adhesions, spatters, ballings, or oxide discolorations are undesirable in engineering applications and therefore must be removed. Plasma electrolytic polishing (PeP) might prove to be a suitable finishing process for this purpose, but the effects of post-processing on the mechanical and functional material properties of additively manufactured Nitinol are still largely unresearched. This study seeks to address this issue. The changes on and in the part caused by PeP with processing times between 2 and 20 min are investigated using Nitinol compression springs manufactured by Laser Beam Melting. As a benchmark for the scanning electron microscope images, the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements, and the mechanical load test cycles, conventionally fabricated Nitinol springs of identical geometry with a medical grade polished surface are used. After 5 min of PeP, a glossy surface free of powder adhesion is achieved, which is increasingly levelled by further polishing. The shape memory properties of the material are retained without a shift in the transformation temperatures being detectable. The decreasing spring rate is primarily attributable to a reduction in the effective wire diameter. Consequently, PeP has proven to be an applicable and effective post-processing method for additively manufactured Nitinol.     

Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion of Water Atomized Iron and Powder Blends

In the present state of the art, highly spherical alloy powders are employed as feedstock in powder bed fusion processes. These powders are characterized by high flowability and apparent density. Their elaborate fabrication process is reflected in high powder price, adding a significant fraction to the cost of additively manufactured parts. Thus, the use of non-spherical powders, such as water atomized material, can lower costs significantly. Here, the electron beam powder bed fusion (PBF-EB) of standard water atomized iron powder used for press-and-sinter is studied. Despite raking problems, using the coating mechanism in standard configuration samples with densities exceeding 99% were fabricated. In a further step, the addition of alloying elements by powder blending is explored. Important powder properties of feedstock blended from irregular and spherical powders are characterized. The PBF-EB processing of two alloys is presented. The first represents a low carbon steel. Samples were characterized by metallographic cross-section, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping, and mechanical testing. The second alloy system is a FeCrAl. After PBF-EB processing of the powder mixture, chemical homogeneity was achieved. Besides the low cost, this approach of using water atomized powder mixed with master alloy offers the advantage of high flexibility for potential application.     

Prediction of Behaviour of Thin-Walled DED-Processed Structure: Experimental-Numerical Approach

Additive manufacturing (AM) becomes a more and more standard process in different fields of industry. There is still only limited knowledge of the relationship between measured material data and the overall behaviour of directed energy deposition (DED)-processed complex structures. The understanding of the structural performance, including flow curves and local damage properties of additively manufactured parts by DED, becomes increasingly important. DED can be used for creating functional surfaces, component repairing using multiple powder feeders, and creating a heterogeneous structure with defined chemical composition. For thin parts that are used with the as-deposited surface, this evaluation is even highly crucial. The main goal of the study was to predict the behaviour of thin-walled structures manufactured by the DED process under static loading by finite element analysis (FEA). Moreover, in this study, the mechanical performance of partly machined and fully machined miniaturized samples produced from the structure was compared. The structure studied in this research resembles a honeycomb shape made of austenitic stainless steel AISI 316L, which is characterized by high strength and ductility. The uncoupled damage models based on a hybrid experimental-numerical approach were used. The microstructure and hardness were examined to comprehend the structural behaviour.     

Impact of the Allowed Compositional Range of Additively Manufactured 316L Stainless Steel on Processability and Material Properties

This work aims to show the impact of the allowed chemical composition range of AISI 316L stainless steel on its processability in additive manufacturing and on the resulting part properties. ASTM A276 allows the chromium and nickel contents in 316L stainless steel to be set between 16 and 18 mass%, respectively, 10 and 14 mass%. Nevertheless, the allowed compositional range impacts the microstructure formation in additive manufacturing and thus the properties of the manufactured components. Therefore, this influence is analyzed using three different starting powders. Two starting powders are laboratory alloys, one containing the maximum allowed chromium content and the other one containing the maximum nickel content. The third material is a commercial powder with the chemical composition set in the middle ground of the allowed compositional range. The materials were processed by laser-based powder bed fusion (PBF-LB/M). The powder characteristics, the microstructure and defect formation, the corrosion resistance, and the mechanical properties were investigated as a function of the chemical composition of the powders used. As a main result, solid-state cracking could be observed in samples additively manufactured from the starting powder containing the maximum nickel content. This is related to a fully austenitic solidification, which occurs because of the low chromium to nickel equivalent ratio. These cracks reduce the corrosion resistance as well as the elongation at fracture of the additively manufactured material that possesses a low chromium to nickel equivalent ratio of 1.0. A limitation of the nickel equivalent of the 316L type steel is suggested for PBF-LB/M production. Based on the knowledge obtained, a more detailed specification of the chemical composition of the type 316L stainless steel is recommended so that this steel can be PBF-LB/M processed to defect-free components with the desired mechanical and chemical properties.     

Development of Micro Laser Powder Bed Fusion for Additive Manufacturing of Inconel 718

The development of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing techniques for microfabrication raises the need for the employment of new process configurations and parameters. In this study, micro-LPBF of Ni-based superalloy Inconel 718 using a spot laser of 30 µm was examined. The response surface method with a central composite design was employed to determine the optimum process parameter. A wide range of heat treatment cycles was applied to additively manufacture Inconel samples. The mechanical behavior of heat-treated Inconel 718 parts fabricated via micro-LPBF was investigated and correlated to the microstructural characteristics. The result showed that using optimum input energy density led to a homogenous distribution of nanosized (<10 nm) circular γ′ and plate-like γ″ particles in the γ matrix. Uniaxial tensile tests on heat-treated samples showed that ageing temperature is the most determinant factor in the mechanical strength of additively manufactured Inconel 718.     

Effects of Shot Peening and Cavitation Peening on Properties of Surface Layer of Metallic Materials—A Short Review

Shot peening is a dynamically developing surface treatment used to improve the surface properties modified by tool, impact, microblasting, or shot action. This paper reviews the basic information regarding shot peening methods. The peening processes and effects of the shot peening and cavitation peening treatments on the surface layer properties of metallic components are analysed. Moreover, the effects of peening on the operational performance of metallic materials are summarized. Shot peening is generally applied to reduce the surface roughness, increase the hardness, and densify the surface layer microstructure, which leads to work hardening effects. In addition, the residual compressive stresses introduced into the material have a beneficial effect on the performance of the surface layer. Therefore, peening can be beneficial for metallic structures prone to fatigue, corrosion, and wear. Recently, cavitation peening has been increasingly developed. This review paper suggests that most research on cavitation peening omits the treatment of additively manufactured metallic materials. Furthermore, no published studies combine shot peening and cavitation peening in one hybrid process, which could synthesize the benefits of both peening processes. Moreover, there is a need to investigate the effects of peening, especially cavitation peening and hybrid peening, on the anti-wear and corrosion performance of additively manufactured metallic materials. Therefore, the literature gap leading to the scope of future work is also included.     

Production of Hybrid Joints by Selective Laser Melting of Maraging Tool Steel 1.2709 on Conventionally Produced Parts of the Same Steel

Joining additively manufactured (AM) complex shaped parts to larger conventionally produced parts can lead to innovative product designs. Another alternative is direct deposition on a conventional semi-product. Therefore, similar joints of maraging tool steel 1.2709 were produced by AM deposition of powder of this steel on a bulk conventionally manufactured steel part. The resulting hybrid parts were solution annealed and precipitation hardened. Solution annealing at 820 °C for 20 min was followed by furnace cooling. Precipitation hardening was performed at 490 °C for 6 h. The mechanical properties of the samples were characterised using tensile testing and hardness measurement across the joint. Metallographic analysis was also carried out. The tensile properties of the AM and conventionally produced steel after equivalent heat treatments were also determined as the reference values. The mechanical properties of the hybrid parts are close to the properties of both steels. The hybrid parts in the as-built condition had a tensile strength of 1029 MPa and a total elongation of 14%. Solution annealing did not change these properties significantly, except for yield strength, which decreased by approximately 150 MPa. After precipitation annealing, the strength was higher, 2011 MPa, and total elongation dropped to 5%.     

Machine Learning-Based Void Percentage Analysis of Components Fabricated with the Low-Cost Metal Material Extrusion Process

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a widely used layer-by-layer manufacturing process. Material extrusion (ME) is one of the most popular AM techniques. Lately, low-cost metal material extrusion (LCMME) technology is developed to perform metal ME to produce metallic parts with the ME technology. This technique is used to fabricate metallic parts after sintering the metal infused additively manufactured parts. Both AM and sintering process parameters will affect the quality of the final parts. It is evident that the sintered parts do not have the same mechanical properties as the pure metal parts fabricated by the traditional manufacturing processes. In this research, several machine learning algorithms are used to predict the size of the internal voids of the final parts based on the collected data. Additionally, the results show that the neural network (NN) is more accurate than the support vector regression (SVR) on prediction.     

Investigating the Linear Thermal Expansion of Additively Manufactured Multi-Material Joining between Invar and Steel

This work investigated the linear thermal expansion properties of a multi-material specimen fabricated with Invar M93 and A36 steel. A sequence of tests was performed to investigate the viability of additively manufactured Invar M93 for lowering the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in multi-material part tooling. Invar beads were additively manufactured on a steel base plate using a fiber laser system, and samples were taken from the steel, Invar, and the interface between the two materials. The CTE of the samples was measured between 40 °C and 150 °C using a thermomechanical analyzer, and the elemental composition was studied with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The CTE of samples taken from the steel and the interface remained comparable to that of A36 steel; however, deviations between the thermal expansion values were prevalent due to element diffusion in and around the heat-affected zone. The CTEs measured from the Invar bead were lower than those from the other sections with the largest and smallest thermal expansion values being 10.40 μm/m-K and 2.09 μm/m-K. In each of the sections, the largest CTE was measured from samples taken from the end of the weld beads. An additional test was performed to measure the aggregate expansion of multi-material tools. Invar beads were welded on an A36 steel plate. The invar was machined, and the sample was heated in an oven from 40 °C and 160 °C. Strain gauges were placed on the surface of the part and were used to analyze how the combined thermal expansions of the invar and steel would affect the thermal expansion on the surface of a tool. There were small deviations between the expansion values measured by gauges placed in different orientations, and the elongation of the sample was greatest along the dimension containing a larger percentage of steel. On average, the expansion of the machined Invar surface was 42% less than the expansion of the steel surface. The results of this work demonstrate that additively manufactured Invar can be utilized to decrease the CTE for multi-material part tooling.     

Powder Reuse Cycles in Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion—Variation of Powder Characteristics

A path to lowering the economic barrier associated with the high cost of metal additively manufactured components is to reduce the waste via powder reuse (powder cycled back into the process) and recycling (powder chemically, physically, or thermally processed to recover the original properties) strategies. In electron beam powder bed fusion, there is a possibility of reusing 95–98% of the powder that is not melted. However, there is a lack of systematic studies focusing on quantifying the variation of powder properties induced by number of reuse cycles. This work compares the influence of multiple reuse cycles, as well as powder blends created from reused powder, on various powder characteristics such as the morphology, size distribution, flow properties, packing properties, and chemical composition (oxygen and nitrogen content). It was found that there is an increase in measured response in powder size distribution, tapped density, Hausner ratio, Carr index, basic flow energy, specific energy, dynamic angle of repose, oxygen, and nitrogen content, while the bulk density remained largely unchanged.     

Tribological Performance of Additively Manufactured AISI H13 Steel in Different Surface Conditions

Additive manufacturing of metallic tribological components offers unprecedented degrees of freedom, but the surface roughness of most as-printed surfaces impedes the direct applicability of such structures, and postprocessing is necessary. Here, the tribological performance of AISI H13 steel samples was studied. These were additively manufactured through laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), also referred to as selective laser melting (SLM). Samples were tested in four different surface conditions: as-printed, polished, ground and polished, and laser-surface-textured (LST) with round dimples. Friction experiments were conducted in a pin-on-disk fashion against bearing steel disks under lubrication with an additive-free mineral base oil for sliding speeds between 20 and 170 mm/s. Results demonstrated that, among the four surface treatments, grinding and polishing resulted in the lowest friction coefficient, followed by the as-printed state, while both polishing alone and laser-surface texturing increased the friction coefficient. Surprisingly, direct correlation between surface roughness and friction coefficient, i.e., the rougher the surface was, the higher the friction force, was not observed. Wear was minimal in all cases and below what could be detected by gravimetrical means. These results highlight the need for an adequate post-processing treatment of additively manufactured parts that are to be employed in tribological systems.     

Selective Laser Melting of CuSn10: Simulation of Mechanical Properties,Microstructure, and Residual Stresses

In this study, the evolution of mechanical properties, microstructure, and residual stresses during selective laser melting of CuSn10 components was studied. To provide a proper material model for the simulations, various CuSn10 parts were manufactured using selective laser melting and examined. The manufactured parts were also used to validate the developed model. Subsequently, a sequentially coupled thermal–mechanical FEM model was developed using the Ansys software package. The developed model was able to deliver the mechanical properties, residual stresses, and microstructure of the additively manufactured components. Due to introducing some simplifications to the model, a calibration factor was applied to adjust the simulation results. However, the developed model was validated and showed a good agreement with the experimental results, such as measured residual stresses using the hole drilling method, as well as mechanical properties of manufactured parts. Moreover, the developed material model was used to simulate the microstructure of manufactured CuSn10. A fine-grain microstructure with an average diameter of 19 ± 11 μm and preferred orientation in the Z-direction, which was the assembly direction, was obtained.     

Investigation into the Hybrid Production of a Superelastic Shape Memory Alloy with Additively Manufactured Structures for Medical Implants

The demographic change in and the higher incidence of degenerative bone disease have resulted in an increase in the number of patients with osteoporotic bone tissue causing. amongst other issues, implant loosening. Revision surgery to treat and correct the loosenings should be avoided, because of the additional patient stress and high treatment costs. Shape memory alloys (SMA) can help to increase the anchorage stability of implants due to their superelastic behavior. The present study investigates the potential of hybridizing NiTi SMA sheets with additively manufactured Ti6Al4V anchoring structures using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology to functionalize a pedicle screw. Different scanning strategies are evaluated, aiming for minimized warpage of the NiTi SMA sheet. For biomechanical tests, functional samples were manufactured. A good connection between the additively manufactured Ti6Al4V anchoring structures and NiTi SMA substrate could be observed though crack formation occurring at the transition area between the two materials. These cracks do not propagate during biomechanical testing, nor do they lead to flaking structures. In summary, the hybrid manufacturing of a NiTi SMA substrate with additively manufactured Ti6Al4V structures is suitable for medical implants.     

Reuse of Ti6Al4V Powder and Its Impact on Surface Tension,Melt Pool Behavior and Mechanical Properties of Additively Manufactured Components

The quality and characteristics of a powder in powder bed fusion processes play a vital role in the quality of additively manufactured components. Its characteristics may influence the process in various ways. This paper presents an investigation highlighting the influence of powder deterioration on the stability of a molten pool in a laser beam powder bed fusion (LB-PBF, selective laser melting) process and its consequences to the physical properties of the alloy, porosity of 3D-printed components and their mechanical properties. The intention in this was to understand powder reuse as a factor playing a role in the formation of porosity in 3D-printed components. Ti6Al4V (15 μm–45 μm) was used as a base material in the form of a fresh powder and a degraded one (reused 12 times). Alloy degradation is described by possible changes in the shape of particles, particle size distribution, chemical composition, surface tension, density and viscosity of the melt. An approach of 3D printing singular lines was applied in order to study the behavior of a molten pool at varying powder bed depths. Single-track cross-sections (STCSs) were described with shape parameters and compared. Furthermore, the influence of the molten pool stability on the final density and mechanical properties of a material was discussed. Electromagnetic levitation (EML) was used to measure surface tension and the density of the melt using pieces of printed samples. It was found that the powder degradation influences the mechanical properties of a printed material by destabilizing the pool of molten metal during printing operation by facilitating the axial flow on the melt along the melt track axis. Additionally, the observed axial flow was found to facilitate a localized lack of fusion between concurrent layers. It was also found that the surface tension and density of the melt are only impacted marginally or not at all by increased oxygen content, yet a difference in the temperature dependence of the surface tension was observed.     

Application of Mass Finishing for Surface Modification of Copper Cold Sprayed Material Consolidations

The surface roughness of additively manufactured (AM) components can have deleterious effects on the properties of the final part, such as corrosion resistance and fatigue life. Modification of the surface finish or parts produced by AM processes, such as cold spray, through methods such as mass finishing, can help to mitigate some of these issues. In this work, the surface evolution of as-produced copper cold sprayed material consolidations was studied through mass finishing. Three different copper powders attained by different production methods and of different sizes were used as feedstock. The surface topography of the cold spray deposits was measured as a function of the mass finishing time for the three copper cold spray samples and analyzed in terms of relative area and complexity, revealing an inverse correlation relating material removal rate and hardness/strength of the cold sprayed deposits. The material removal rate was also affected by the quality of the cold spray deposition, as defined by deposition efficiency (DE). Large initial drops in relative area and complexity are also likely due to the removal of loosely bonded powders at the start of mass finishing. Based on this study, the cold spray parameters that affect the rate of mass finishing have been explored.     

Development and Validation of Empirical Models to Predict Metal Additively Manufactured Part Density and Surface Roughness from Powder Characteristics

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) processes, viz laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), are becoming an increasingly popular manufacturing tool for a range of industries. The powder material used in L-PBF is costly, and it is rare for a single batch of powder to be used in a single L-PBF build. The un-melted powder material can be sieved and recycled for further builds, significantly increasing its utilisation. Previous studies conducted by the authors have tracked the effect of both powder recycling and powder rejuvenation processes on the powder characteristics and L-PBF part properties. This paper investigates the use of multiple linear regression to build empirical models to predict the part density and surface roughness of 316L stainless steel parts manufactured using recycled and rejuvenated powder based on the powder characteristics. The developed models built on the understanding of the effect of powder characteristics on the part properties. The developed models were found to be capable of predicting the part density and surface roughness to within ±0.02% and ±0.5 Ra, respectively. The models developed enable L-PBF operators to input powder characteristics and predict the expected part density and surface roughness.     

High-Resolution Microstructure Characterization of Additively Manufactured X5CrNiCuNb17-4 Maraging Steel during Ex and In Situ Thermal Treatment

Powder and selective laser melting (SLM) additively manufactured parts of X5CrNiCuNb17-4 maraging steel were systematically investigated by electron microscopy to understand the relationship between the properties of the powder grains and the microstructure of the printed parts. We prove that satellites, irregularities and superficial oxidation of powder particles can be transformed into an advantage through the formation of nanoscale (AlMnSiTiCr) oxides in the matrix during the printing process. The nano-oxides showed extensive stability in terms of size, spherical morphology, chemical composition and crystallographic disorder upon in situ heating in the scanning transmission electron microscope up to 950 °C. Their presence thus indicates a potential for oxide-dispersive strengthening of this steel, which may be beneficial for creep resistance at elevated temperatures. The nucleation of copper clusters and their evolution into nanoparticles, and the precipitation of Ni and Cr particles upon in situ heating, have been systematically documented as well.     

Stress Relaxation Behavior of Additively Manufactured Polylactic Acid (PLA)

In this work, the stress relaxation behavior of 3D printed PLA was experimentally investigated and analytically modeled. First, a quasi-static tensile characterization of additively manufactured samples was conducted by considering the effect of printing parameters like the material infill orientation and the outer wall presence. The effect of two thermal conditioning treatments on the material tensile properties was also investigated. Successively, stress relaxation tests were conducted, on both treated and unconditioned specimens, undergoing three different strains levels. Analytical predictive models of the viscous behavior of additive manufactured material were compared, highlighting and discussing the effects of considered printing parameters.     

Effects of Particle Size Distribution with Efficient Packing on Powder Flowability and Selective Laser Melting Process

The powder bed-based additive manufacturing (AM) process contains uncertainties in the powder spreading process and powder bed quality, leading to problems in repeatability and quality of the additively manufactured parts. This work focuses on identifying the uncertainty induced by particle size distribution (PSD) on powder flowability and the laser melting process, using Ti6Al4V as a model material. The flowability test results show that the effect of PSDs on flowability is not linear, rather the PSDs near dense packing ratios cause significant reductions in flowability (indicated by the increase in the avalanche angle and break energy of the powders measured by a revolution powder analyzer). The effects of PSDs on the selective laser melting (SLM) process are identified by using in-situ high-speed X-ray imaging to observe the melt pool dynamics during the melting process. The results show that the powder beds made of powders with dense packing ratios exhibit larger build height during laser melting. The effects of PSD with efficient packing on powder flowability and selective laser melting process revealed in this work are important for understanding process uncertainties induced by feedstock powders and for designing mitigation approaches.