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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Metals and Alloys".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2023) | Viewed by 24182

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Animesh Kumar Basak

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Guest Editor

Adelaide Microscopy, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Interests: microscopy; machining; 3D printing; tribology; nanostructure materials
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Dr. Alokesh Pramanik

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
Interests: machining processes; CAD/CAM; digital manufacturing
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Dr. Chander Prakash

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Guest Editor

Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Punjab 144411, India
Interests: biomaterials; sustainable manufacturing; surface engineering
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, “3D Printing of Metallic Materials”, will address advances in 3D printing of wide range of materials, such as metals, alloys and metallic composites. The use of 3D printing is of prime importance in terms of accuracy and overcoming the shortcomings of traditional materials’ fabrication process as well as toward zero wastage of materials. Nevertheless, 3D printing of metallic materials comes with its own set of challenges, such as stress buildup, bulk properties, and inherent porosities. Selecting the appropriate and economical process parameters in any fabrication division is one of the most challenging tasks. The research challenges in the 3D printing process remain the same and are growing day by day in terms of minimizing product size and waste management.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to collect valuable research articles in which improved techniques are presented with significant contributions to the fabrication as well as property evaluation of printed products. This Special Issue aims at the accumulation of recent trends and developments in this field—experimental, simulation, and reviews. By explaining the advantages and disadvantages of procedures involved in the 3D printing processes, it will allow the reader to understand more about the process and will help them to think and develop more optimized procedures in the near future. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

Recent developments in the 3D printing processes
Modeling/simulation of the 3D printing process
Hybrid 3D printing process
Optimization procedures of the fabrication process
Property evaluation of printed parts in different length scales

We look forward to your contributions.

Dr. Animesh Kumar Basak
Dr. Alokesh Pramanik
Dr. Chander Prakash
Guest Editors

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Keywords

metals
composites
3D printing
process parameters
property evaluation
length scale

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 9103 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hybrid Additive and Subtractive Manufacturing Method Using Pulsed Arc Plasma

by Xiaoming Duan, Ruirui Cui, Haiou Yang and Xiaodong Yang

Materials 2023, 16(13), 4561; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16134561 - 24 Jun 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1426

Abstract

In this study, a novel hybrid additive and subtractive manufacturing method using pulsed arc plasma (PAP-HASM) was developed to better integrate additive and subtractive processes. The PAP-HASM process is based on the flexible application of pulsed arc plasma. In this PAP-HASM method, wire arc additive manufacturing using pulsed arc plasma (PAP-WAAM) and dry electrical discharge machining (EDM) milling were used as additive and subtractive techniques, respectively; both are thermal machining processes based on pulsed arc plasma, and both are dry machining techniques requiring no working fluids. The PAP-HASM can be easily realized by only changing the pulsed power supply and tool electrodes. A key technological challenge is that the recast layer on the part surface after dry EDM milling may have a detrimental effect on the component fabricated by PAP-HASM. Here, the hybrid manufacturing method developed in this study was validated with commonly used 316L stainless steel. Preliminary experimental results showed that the PAP-HASM specimens exhibited excellent tensile properties, with an ultimate tensile strength of 539 ± 8 MPa and elongation of 46 ± 4%, which were comparable to the PAP-WAAM specimens. The recast layer on the surface after dry EDM milling has no significant detrimental effect on the mechanical properties of the parts fabricated by PAP-HASM. In addition, compared with components fabricated by PAP-WAAM, those fabricated by PAP-HASM showed significantly better surface roughness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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17 pages, 4588 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quenching and Tempering-Dependent Evolution on the Microstructure and Mechanical Performance Based on a Laser Additively Manufactured 12CrNi2 Alloy Steel

by Wei Zhang, Xin Shang, Xiaoxuan Chen, Shenggui Chen, Zhengliang Liu and Lijuan Zhang

Materials 2023, 16(9), 3443; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16093443 - 28 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1638

Abstract

For exploring an effective heat treatment schedule to enhance the strength–plasticity balance of the ferrite–austenite 12CrNi2 alloy steel additively manufactured by directed energy deposition (DED), 12CrNi2 was heat-treated with deliberately designed direct quenching (DQ) and cyclic quenching (CQ), respectively, and the differently quenched steels were then tempered at a temperature from 200 °C to 500 °C. It was found that the CQ, in contrast to the DQ, led the 12CrNi2 to have significantly increased tensile strength without losing its plasticity, based on the introduction of fine-grained lath martensite and the {112}<111>-type nanotwins. The nanotwins were completely degenerated after the 200 °C tempering. This led the CQ-treated steel to decrease in not only its tensile strength, but also its plasticity. In addition, an interesting phenomenon observed was that the DQ-induced laths and rod-like precipitates, and the tempering-induced laths and rod-like precipitates were all prone to be generated along the {112} planes of the martensitic crystal (

α

-Fe), which were exactly fitted with the {112}-type crystalline orientation of the long or short nanotwins in the CQ-induced martensite. The quenching–tempering-induced generation of the {112}-orientated laths and rod-like precipitates was explicated in connection with the {112}<111>-type long or short nanotwins in the CQ-induced lath martensite. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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20 pages, 14100 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Effect of Process Parameters on the Microstructure and Properties of Cu–Cr–Nb–Ti Alloy Manufactured by Selective Laser Melting

by Jian Li, Zuming Liu, Huan Zhou, Shupeng Ye, Yazhou Zhang, Tao Liu, Daoyan Jiang, Lei Chen and Runxing Zhou

Materials 2023, 16(7), 2912; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16072912 - 6 Apr 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2279

Abstract

The fabrication of high-performance copper alloys by selective laser melting (SLM) is challenging, and establishing relationships between the process parameters and microstructures is necessary. In this study, Cu–Cr–Nb–Ti alloy is manufactured by SLM, and the microstructures of the alloy are investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The effects of processing parameters such as laser power and scanning speed on the relative density, defects, microstructures, mechanical properties, and electrical conductivity of the Cu–Cr–Nb–Ti alloy are studied. The optimal processing window for fabricating Cu–Cr–Nb–Ti alloy by SLM is determined. Face-centered cubic (FCC) Cu diffraction peaks shifting to small angles are observed, and there are no diffraction peaks related to the second phase. The grains of XY planes have a bimodal distribution with an average grain size of 24–55 μm. Fine second phases with sizes of less than 50 nm are obtained. The microhardness, tensile strength, and elongation of the Cu–Cr–Nb–Ti alloy manufactured using the optimum processing parameters, laser power of 325 W and scanning speed of 800 mm/s, are 139 HV0.2, 416 MPa, and 27.8%, respectively, and the electrical conductivity is 15.6% IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard). This study provides a feasible scheme for preparing copper alloys with excellent performance and complex geometries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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22 pages, 16565 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Ferritic ODS Steels Obtained by Laser Additive Manufacturing

by Lucas Autones, Pascal Aubry, Joel Ribis, Hadrien Leguy, Alexandre Legris and Yann de Carlan

Materials 2023, 16(6), 2397; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16062397 - 16 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2276

Abstract

This study aims to assess the potential of Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM) for the elaboration of Ferritic/Martensitic ODS steels. These materials are usually manufactured by mechanical alloying of powders followed by hot consolidation in a solid state. Two Fe-14Cr-1W ODS powders are considered for this study. The first powder was obtained by mechanical alloying, and the second was through soft mixing of an atomized Fe-14Cr steel powder with yttria nanoparticles. They are representative of the different types of powders that can be used for LAM. The results obtained with the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) process are compared to a non-ODS powder and to a conventional ODS material obtained by Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP). The microstructural and mechanical characterizations show that it is possible to obtain nano-oxides in the material, but their density remains low compared to HIP ODS steels, regardless of the initial powders considered. The ODS obtained by LAM have mechanical properties which remain modest compared to conventional ODS. The current study demonstrated that it is very difficult to obtain F/M ODS grades with the expected characteristics by using LAM processes. Indeed, even if significant progress has been made, the powder melting stage strongly limits, for the moment, the possibility of obtaining fine and dense precipitation of nano-oxides in these steels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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14 pages, 4817 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation into the Microstructure and Hardness of Additively Manufactured (3D-Printed) Inconel 718 Alloy

by Abdulaziz Kurdi, Abdelhakim Aldoshan, Fahad Alshabouna, Abdulaziz Alodadi, Ahmed Degnah, Husain Alnaser, Thamer Tabbakh and Animesh Kumar Basak

Materials 2023, 16(6), 2383; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16062383 - 16 Mar 2023

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2729

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) of Ni-based super alloys is more challenging, compared to the production other metallic alloys. This is due to their high melting point and excellent high temperature resistance. In the present work, an Inconel 718 alloy was fabricated by a powder laser bed fusion (P-LBF) process and investigated to assess its microstructural evolution, together with mechanical properties. Additionally, the alloy was compared against the cast (and forged) alloy of similar composition. The microstructure of the P-LBF-processed alloy shows hierarchy microstructure that consists of cellular sub-structure (~100–600 nm), together with melt pool and grain boundaries, in contrast of the twin infested larger grain microstructure of the cast alloy. However, the effect of such unique microstructure on mechanical properties of the L-PBF alloy was overwritten, due to the absence of precipitates. The hardness of the L-PBF-processed alloy (330–349 MPa) was lower than that of cast alloy (408 MPa). The similar trend was also observed in other mechanical properties, such as Young’s modulus, resistance to plasticity and shear stress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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19 pages, 14961 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of the Ti-Ta Alloy with Unmelted Ta Particles by Laser Powder Bed Fusion

by Mu Gao, Dingyong He, Li Cui, Lixia Ma, Zhen Tan, Zheng Zhou and Xingye Guo

Materials 2023, 16(6), 2208; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16062208 - 9 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1689

Abstract

Titanium-tantalum (Ti-Ta) alloy has excellent biomechanical properties with high strength and low Young’s modulus, showing great application potential in the biomedical industry. In this study, Ti-Ta alloy samples were prepared by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology with mixed pure 75 wt.% Ti and 25 wt.% Ta powders as the feedstock. The maximum relative density of Ti-Ta samples prepared by LPBF reached 99.9%. It is well-accepted that four nonequilibrium phases, namely, α′, α″ and metastable β phase exist in Ti-Ta alloys. The structure of α′, α″ and β are hexagonal close-packed (HCP), base-centered orthorhombic (BCO) and body-centered cubic (BCC), respectively. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the α′ phase transformed to the α″ phase with the increase of energy density. The lamellar α′/α″ phases and the α″ twins were generated in the prior β phase. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the Ti-Ta alloy were optimized with different LPBF processing parameters. The samples prepared by LPBF energy density of 381 J/mm³ had a favorable ultimate strength (UTS) of 1076 ± 2 MPa and yield strength of 795 ± 16 MPa. The samples prepared by LPBF energy density of 76 had excellent ductility, with an elongation of 31% at fracture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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18 pages, 70218 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Comparison of Microstructure and Microhardness Properties of IN718 Fabricated via Powder- and Wire-Fed Laser-Directed Energy Deposition

by Nandana Menon, Brady A. Sawyer, Cory D. Jamieson, Edward W. Reutzel and Amrita Basak

Materials 2023, 16(3), 1129; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16031129 - 28 Jan 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2105

Abstract

The objective of this work is to compare the microstructure and microhardness properties of IN718 deposited by both powder- and wire-fed laser-directed energy deposition (L-DED) processes. The powder-fed L-DED is carried out on an Optomec LENS^® system while the wire-fed L-DED is performed in an in-house custom-built system. Several single-layer single-track specimens are fabricated using different combinations of process parameters to down-select the optimal process parameters for both systems. The finalized parameters are, thereafter, used to build thin-wall specimens having identical designs. The specimens are characterized using optical and electron microscopy as well as microhardness measurements. The results demonstrate that the powder-fed specimen, built using optimal process parameters, does not exhibit any distortion. On the contrary, the wire-fed specimen, built with optimal process parameters, show lesser porosity. Differences in elemental segregation are also detected in the two specimens. For example, nitrides and carbides are observed in the wire-fed specimen but not in the powder-fed specimen. The microhardness measurements reveal the powder-fed specimen has higher microhardness values compared to the wire-fed specimen. These results can be used to fabricate parts with sequential powder and wire deposition to achieve biomimetic structures of varying microstructure and microhardness properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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19 pages, 4527 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of Density Gradient on the Compression of Functionally Graded BCC Lattice Structure

by Yuxiang Lin, Wentian Shi, Xiaohong Sun, Shuai Liu, Jihang Li, Yusheng Zhou and Yifan Han

Materials 2023, 16(2), 520; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16020520 - 5 Jan 2023

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2361

Abstract

In this paper, five grading functional gradient lattice structures with a different density perpendicular to the loading direction were proposed, and the surface morphology, deformation behavior, and compression properties of the functional gradient lattice structures prepared by selective laser melting (SLM) with Ti-6Al-4V as the building material were investigated. The results show that the characteristics of the laser energy distribution of the SLM molding process make the spherical metal powder adhere to the surface of the lattice structure struts, resulting in the actual relative density of the lattice structure being higher than the designed theoretical relative density, but the maximum error does not exceed 3.33%. With the same relative density, all lattice structures with density gradients perpendicular to the loading direction have better mechanical properties than the uniform lattice structure, in particular, the elastic modulus of LF, the yield strength of LINEAR, and the first maximum compression strength of INDEX are 28.99%, 16.77%, and 14.46% higher than that of the UNIFORM. In addition, the energy absorption per unit volume of the INDEX and LINEAR is 38.38% and 48.29% higher, respectively, than that of the UNIFORM. Fracture morphology analysis shows that the fracture morphology of these lattice structures shows dimples and smooth planes, indicating that the lattice structure exhibits a mixed brittle and ductile failure mechanism under compressive loading. Finite element analysis results show that when the loading direction is perpendicular to the density gradient-forming direction, the higher density part of the lattice structure is the main bearing part, and the greater the density difference between the two ends of the lattice structure, the greater the elastic modulus. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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25 pages, 3894 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Phase-Field Model for In-Space Manufacturing of Binary Alloys

by Manoj Ghosh, Muhannad Hendy, Jonathan Raush and Kasra Momeni

Materials 2023, 16(1), 383; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010383 - 31 Dec 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2151

Abstract

The integrity of the final printed components is mostly dictated by the adhesion between the particles and phases that form upon solidification, which is a major problem in printing metallic parts using available In-Space Manufacturing (ISM) technologies based on the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) methodology. Understanding the melting/solidification process helps increase particle adherence and allows to produce components with greater mechanical integrity. We developed a phase-field model of solidification for binary alloys. The phase-field approach is unique in capturing the microstructure with computationally tractable costs. The developed phase-field model of solidification of binary alloys satisfies the stability conditions at all temperatures. The suggested model is tuned for Ni-Cu alloy feedstocks. We derived the Ginzburg-Landau equations governing the phase transformation kinetics and solved them analytically for the dilute solution. We calculated the concentration profile as a function of interface velocity for a one-dimensional steady-state diffuse interface neglecting elasticity and obtained the partition coefficient, k, as a function of interface velocity. Numerical simulations for the diluted solution are used to study the interface velocity as a function of undercooling for the classic sharp interface model, partitionless solidification, and thin interface. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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17 pages, 7812 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Additive Manufacturing of Dense Ti6Al4V Layer via Picosecond Pulse Laser

by Xiaomeng Zhu, Teng Yin, Yuzhou Hu, Siyuan Li, Dong Wu and Zhilin Xia

Materials 2023, 16(1), 324; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010324 - 29 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1865

Abstract

Ultrashort pulse laser shows good potential for heat control improvement in metal additive manufacturing. The challenge of applying ultrashort pulse laser as the heat source is to form a fully melted and dense microstructure. In this study, a picosecond pulse laser is introduced for fabricating single layer Ti6Al4V samples. The results, by examining through X-ray computed tomography (X-CT), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), show that highly dense Ti6Al4V samples were fabricated with optimized process parameters. The analysis of the cross section presents a three-zones structure from top to bottom in the sequence of the fully melted zone, the partially melted zone, and the heat-affected zone. A semi-quantitative study is performed to estimate the thermal efficiency of melted pool formation. The mechanical properties of the samples are tested using nano-indentation, showing an elastic modulus of 89.74 ± 0.74 GPa. The evidence of dense melted pool with good mechanical properties indicates that the picosecond laser can be integrated as the heat source with the current metal additive manufacturing to fabricate parts with accuracy control for the smaller size of thermal filed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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13 pages, 3898 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Laser Additive Manufacturing of TC4/AlSi12 Bimetallic Structure via Nb Interlayer

by Zhicheng Jing, Xiangyu Liu, Wenbo Wang, Nuo Xu, Guojian Xu and Fei Xing

Materials 2022, 15(24), 9071; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15249071 - 19 Dec 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2321

Abstract

The TC4/AlSi12 bimetallic structures (BS) with Nb interlayer transition were fabricated by laser additive manufacturing (LAM). The results showed that the TC4/AlSi12 BS with Nb interlayer prepared with optimized process parameters can be divided into three regions (the TC4 region, Nb region and the AlSi12 region) and two interfaces (the TC4/Nb interface and the Nb/AlSi12 interface). The high melting point (Ti, Nb) solid solution formed in the Nb region acted as a diffusion barrier between the TC4 alloy and the AlSi12 alloy, thereby effectively inhibiting the formation of Ti-Al intermetallic compounds (IMCs). With the decrease of the laser output power for AlSi12 deposition, the NbAl₃ IMC changed from layered to dispersed distribution, while γ-TiAl and Ti₅Si₃ IMC disappeared, thus significantly reducing the crack susceptibility of the BS deposited layer. The tensile strength of TC4/AlSi12 BS with Nb interlayer was about 128MPa, and the fracture was located near the Nb/AlSi12 interface. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Metallic Materials)

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