Effect of preheating on the thermal, microstructural and mechanical properties of selective electron beam melted Ti-6Al-4V components

Two-stage preheating is used in selective electron beam melting (SEBM) to prevent powder spreading during additive manufacturing (AM); however, its effects on part properties have not been widely investigated. Here, we employed three different preheat treatments (energy per unit area, E_{A} to a Ti-6Al-4V powder bed. Each standalone build, we fabricated a large block sample and seven can-shaped samples containing sintered powder. X-ray computed tomography (XCT) was employed to quantify the porosity and build accuracy of the can-shaped samples. The effective thermal conductivity of the sintered powder bed was estimated by XCT image-based modelling. The microstructural and mechanical properties of the block sample were examined by scanning electron microscopy and microhardness testing, respectively. The results demonstrate that increasing E_{A} reduces the anisotropy of tortuosity and increases the thermal conductivity of the sintered powder bed, improving the heat transfer efficiency for subsequent beam-matter interaction. High preheat has a negligible effect on the porosity of large AM components; however, it decreases the microhardness from 330 ± 7 to 315 ± 11 HV0.5 and increases the maximum build error from 330 to 400 μm. Our study shows that a medium E_{A} (411 kJ m^{-2} is sufficient to produce components with a high hardness whilst optimising build accuracy

Cyclic plasticity and damage mechanisms of Ti-6Al-4V processed by electron beam melting

Cyclic deformation and damage mechanisms in electron-beam-melted Ti-6Al-4V are investigated. As-built samples exhibit a graded microstructure over the height of 120 mm, with samples from the top having larger α-laths and higher plastic strain. After HIPing, the α-lath width is greater, with reduced grain misorientation, and lower microstructural and property gradients. In both conditions, the observed cyclic softening is dominated by a monotonic reduction in the friction stress and an increase in grain misorientation, suggesting the lath structure progressively fragments into smaller grains. As-built samples show typically lower fatigue life due to crack initiation from gas pores and lack-of-fusion defects

Responses to primary and a booster dose of acellular, component, and whole-cell pertussis vaccines initiated at 2 months of age.

Two-stage preheating is used in selective electron beam melting (SEBM) to prevent powder spreading during additive manufacturing (AM); however, its effects on part properties have not been widely investigated. Here, we employed three different preheat treatments (energy per unit area, EA) to a Ti-6Al-4V powder bed. Each standalone build, we fabricated a large block sample and seven can-shaped samples containing sintered powder. X-ray computed tomography (XCT) was employed to quantify the porosity and build accuracy of the can-shaped samples. The effective thermal conductivity of the sintered powder bed was estimated by XCT image-based modelling. The microstructural and mechanical properties of the block sample were examined by scanning electron microscopy and microhardness testing, respectively. The results demonstrate that increasing EA reduces the anisotropy of tortuosity and increases the thermal conductivity of the sintered powder bed, improving the heat transfer efficiency for subsequent beam-matter interaction. High preheat has a negligible effect on the porosity of large AM components; however, it decreases the microhardness from 330 ± 7 to 315 ± 11 HV0.5 and increases the maximum build error from 330 to 400 μm. Our study shows that a medium EA (411 kJ m−2) is sufficient to produce components with a high hardness whilst optimising build accuracy

A critical evaluation of the microstructural gradient along the build direction in electron beam melted Ti-6Al-4V alloy

It is generally recognised that electron beam melted (EBM) Ti-6Al-4V alloys exhibit a microstructural gradient along the build direction, but there have been some inconsistent experimental observations and debate as to the origin and magnitude of this effect. Here we present an unambiguous evaluation of this microstructural gradient and associated mechanical property along the EBM build direction on purpose-built round bar RB samples with build height of 380 mm and rectangular plate RP samples with build height of 120 mm. Columnar prior β grain width was found to increase (from 86 ± 38 to 154 ± 56 µm in RB and from 79 ± 34 to 122 ± 56 µm in RP samples) with the build height and the similar increase was also observed for α lath width (from 0.58 ± 24 to 0.87 ± 33 µm in RB and from 1.50 ± 45 to 1.80 ± 49 µm in RP samples). These observations can be attributed to the thermal gradient in the powder bed that produced a cooling rate gradient along the build height. The measured α lath width variation along the build height followed a log-normal distribution. The graded microstructure resulted in a decrease in micro-hardness which correlated very well with the mean α lath width by following a Hall-Petch relation