Role of laser scan strategies in defect control,microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of steel matrix composites prepared by laser additive manufacturing

Steel matrix composites(SMCs)reinforced with WC particles were fabricated via selective laser melting(SLM)by employing various laser scan strategies.A detailed relationship between the SLM strategies,defect formation,microstructural evolution,and mechanical properties of SMCs was established.The laser scan strategies can be manipulated to deliberately alter the thermal history of SMC during SLM processing.Particularly,the involved thermal cycling,which encompassed multiple layers,strongly affected the processing quality of SMCs.Sshaped scan sequence combined with interlayer offset and orthogonal stagger mode can effectively eliminate the metallurgical defects and retained austenite within the produced SMCs.However,due to large thermal stress,microcracks that were perpendicular to the building direction formed within the SMCs.By employing the checkerboard filling(CBF)hatching mode,the thermal stress arising during SLM can be significantly reduced,thus preventing the evolution of interlayer microcracks.The compressive properties of fabricated SMCs can be tailored at a high compressive strength(~3031.5 MPa)and fracture strain(~24.8%)by adopting the CBF hatching mode combined with the optimized scan sequence and stagger mode.This study demonstrates great feasibility in tuning the mechanical properties of SLM-fabricated SMCs without varying the set energy input,e.g.,laser power and scanning speed.

Hierarchical microstructures and strengthening mechanisms of nano-TiC reinforced CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy composites prepared by laser powder bed fusion

High entropy alloys(HEAs)have recently received extensive attention due to their appealing mechani-cal performance given their simple phase formation.This study utilized laser powder bed fusion(LPBF)to fabricate high-performance HEA components.By processing respective powder blends,LPBF enabled the fabrication of stronger composites with a uniformly distributed reinforcing phase.Here,the impact of varying content of nano-scale TiC(1-3 wt%)particles for strengthening the CoCrFeMnNi HEA was ex-plored.The microstructural features and mechanical properties of the HEA composites were investigated in detail.The introduction of nano-scale TiC into the HEA matrix encouraged the development of cross-scale hierarchical microstructure and eliminated the formation of oxide inclusions.Incorporating more nano-TiC led to a higher dislocation density and more refined microstructure in the HEA composites,whereas it posed little influence on the anisotropy of the HEA matrix which typically featured a<001>texture along the building direction.With an optimized content of nano-TiC(1-2 wt%),the strength-ductility trade-offcan be overcome by exploiting multiple strengthening mechanisms encompassing grain boundary strengthening,solid solution strengthening,Orowan strengthening,and dislocation strengthen-ing.The HEA composites showed a favored strength-ductility combination with a yield strength of 748-882 MPa,ultimate tensile strength of 931-1081 MPa,and fracture elongation of 23%-29%.This study demonstrates that the introduction of nano-scale TiC is an effective way to simultaneously improve the strength and ductility of additively manufactured HEA materials.

Achieving exceptional wear resistance in a crack-free high-carbon tool steel fabricated by laser powder bed fusion without pre-heating

Laser powder bed fusion(LPBF)for the fabrication of dense components used for tooling applications,is highly challenging.Residual stresses,which evolve in the additively manufactured part,are inherent to LPBF processing.An additional stress contribution in high-carbon steels arises from the austenite-to-martensite phase transformation,which may eventually lead to cracking or even delamination.As an alternative to pre-heating the base plate,which is not striven by industry,lowering the martensite content which forms in the part,is essential for the fabrication of dense parts by LPBF of high-carbon tool steels which are then adapted to LPBF.In this study,a successful strategy demonstrates the processing of the Fe85Cr4Mo1V1W8C1(wt%)high-carbon steel by LPBF into dense parts(99.8%).The hierarchical microstructure consists of austenitic and martensitic grains separated by elemental segregations in which nanoscopic carbide particles form a network.A high density of microsegregation was observed at the molten pool boundary ultimately forming a superstructure.The LPBF-fabricated steel shows a yield strength,ultimate compressive stress,and total strain of 1210 MPa,3556 MPa,and 27.4%,respectively.The mechanical and wear performance is rated against the industrially employed and highly wear-resistant 1.2379 tool steel taken as the reference.Despite its lower macro-hardness,the LPBF steel(58.6 HRC,0.0061 mm^(3) Nm^(-1))shows a higher wear resistance than the reference steel(62.6 HRC,0.0078 mm^(3) Nm^(-1)).This behavior results from the wear-induced formation of martensite in a microscale thick layer directly at the worn surface,as it was proven via high-energy X-ray diffraction mapping.

CuZr-based bulk metallic glass and glass matrix composites fabricated by selective laser melting

Monolithic bulk metallic glass and glass matrix composites with a relative density above 98%were produced by processing Cu_(46)Zr_(46)Al_(8)(at.%)via selective laser melting(SLM).Their microstructures and mechanical properties were systematically examined.B2 CuZr nanocrystals(30-100 nm in diameter)are uniformly dispersed in the glassy matrix when SLM is conducted at an intermediate energy input.These B2 CuZr nanocrystals nucleate the oxygen-stabilized big cube phase during a remelting step.The presence of these nanocrystals increases the structural heterogeneity as indirectly revealed by mircrohardness and nanoindentation measurements.The corresponding maps in combination with calorimetric data indicate that the glassy phase is altered by the processing conditions.Despite the formation of crystals and a high overall free volume content,all additively manufactured samples fail at lower stress than the as-cast glass and without any plastic strain.The inherent brittleness is attributed to the presence of relatively large pores and the increased oxygen content after selective laser melting.

Laser additive manufactured high-performance Fe-based composites with unique strengthening structure

Steel matrix composites(SMCs),reinforced by ceramic particles,have received a consistent attention in recent years.Using conventional methods to prepare SMCs is generally challenging,and the mechanical properties of conventionally fabricated SMCs are limited.In this study,we successfully fabricated highperformance SMCs by laser powder bed fusion(LPBF)of a composite powder consisting of Fe-based alloy powder and submicron-sized WC particles.The effect of laser energy density on the phase formation,microstructural evolution,overall density and resulting mechanical properties of LPBF-fabricated composites was investigated.The present results show that a novel Fe_(2)W_(4)C carbidic network precipitates in the solidified microstructure entailing segregations along the boundaries of cellular sub-grains.The presence of this carbidic network hampers the growth of sub-grains even at elevated temperatures,and hence,stabilizes the grain size though prepared at a broad range of different energy densities.The exact distribution of the Fe_(2)W_(4)C carbides depends on the employed laser energy densities,as for instance they are more uniformly distributed at higher energy input.The density of LPBF samples reaches the maximum value of 99.4%at 150 J/mm^(3).In this parameter set,high microhardness of~753 HV,compression strength of~3350 MPa and fracture strain of~24.4%are obtained.The enhanced mechanical properties are ascribed to less metallurgical defects,higher volume fraction of the martensitic phase and increasing pile-up dislocations resulting from the pinning effect by Fe_(2)W_(4)C carbide.

Mechanical behavior and deformation mechanism of shape memory bulk metallic glass composites synthesized by powder metallurgy

The synthesis of martensitic or shape-memory bulk metallic glass composites(BMGCs)via solidification of the glass-forming melts requires the meticulous selection of the chemical composition and the proper choice of the processing parameters in order to ensure that the glassy matrix coexists with the desired amount of austenitic phase.Unfortunately,a relatively limited number of such systems,where austenite and glassy matrix coexist over a wide range of compositions,is available.Here,we study the effective-ness of powder metallurgy as an alternative to solidification for the synthesis of shape memory BMGCs.Zr_(48)Cu_(36)Al_(8)Ag_(8)matrix composites with different volume fractions of Ni_(50.6)Ti_(49.4)are fabricated using hot pressing and their microstructure,mechanical properties and deformation mechanism are investigated employing experiments and simulations.The results demonstrate that shape-memory BMGCs with tun-able microstructures and properties can be synthesized by hot pressing.The phase stability of the glass and austenitic components across a wide range of compositions allows us to examine fundamental as-pects in the field of shape memory BMGCs,including the effect of the confining stress on the martensitic transformation exerted by the glassy matrix,the contribution of each phase to the plasticity and the mechanism responsible for shear band formation.The present method gives a virtually infinite choice among the possible combinations of glassy matrices and shape memory phases,expanding the range of accessible shape memory BMGCs to systems where the glassy and austenitic phases do not form simul-taneously using the solidification route.