Laser metal deposition of refractory high-entropy alloys for high-throughput synthesis and structure-property characterization

Progress in materials development is often paced by the time required to produce and evaluate a large number of alloys with different chemical compositions.This applies especially to refractory high-entropy alloys(RHEAs),which are difficult to synthesize and process by conventional methods.To evaluate a possible way to accelerate the process,high-throughput laser metal deposition was used in this work to prepare a quinary RHEA,TiZrNbHfTa,as well as its quaternary and ternary subsystems by in-situ alloying of elemental powders.Compositionally graded variants of the quinary RHEA were also analyzed.Our results show that the influence of various parameters such as powder shape and purity,alloy composition,and especially the solidification range,on the processability,microstructure,porosity,and mechanical properties can be investigated rapidly.The strength of these alloys was mainly affected by the oxygen and nitrogen contents of the starting powders,while substitutional solid solution strengthening played a minor role.

Fabrication of directional solidification components of nickel-base superalloys by laser metal forming

Straight plates, hollow columns, ear-like blade tips, twist plates withdirectional solidification microstructure made of Rene 95 superalloys were successfully fabricatedon Nickel-base superalloy and DD3 substrates, respectively. The processing conditions for productionof the parts with corresponding shapes were obtained. The fabrication precision was high and thecomponents were compact. The solidification microstructure of the parts was analyzed by opticalmicroscopy. The results show that the solidification microstructure is composed of columnardendrites, by epitaxial growth onto the directional solidification substrates. The crystallographyorientation of the parts was parallel to that of the substrates. The primary arm spacing was about10 mum, which is in the range of superfine dendrites, and the secondary arm was small or evendegenerated. It is concluded that the laser metal forming technique provides a method to manufacturedirectional solidification components.

Solidification Microstructure of Rene95 Superalloy by Laser Metal Forming

Rene95 powder and different substrates were selected to be conducted by the laser metal forming technique. It is found that the cladding layers with either columnar or equiaxed grains can be obtained under different solidification conditions. As the crystallography orientation of the substrate influences that of the cladding layers strongly. Multi-grain cladding layers can be obtained on the multi-grain substrate, while directional solidification columnar or even single crystal cladding layer can be achieved on the directional solidification or single crystal substrate.The mechanism of microstructure formation in the cladding layer was furtherly investigated according to the columnar/equiaxed transition profile. In addition,an ear-like single crystal component was manufactured using the DD3 single crystal as substrate. The yield strength at room temperature was examined on the heat-treated slice sample. The results indicate that the yield strength is about 97.9% of that of the powder metallurgical tensile sample while the plasticity overpasses 80% of the powder metallurgical tensile sample.

Influence of processing parameters on laser metal deposited copper and titanium alloy composites

The laser metal deposition （LMD） was conducted on copper by varying the processing parameters in order to achieve the best possible settings. Two sets of experiments were conducted. The deposited composites were characterized through the evolving microstructure, microhardness profiling and mechanical properties. It was found that the evolving microstructures of the deposited composites were characterized with primary, secondary and tertiary arms dendrites, acicular microstructure as well as the alpha and beta eutectic structures. From the two sets of experiments performed, it was found that Sample E produced at a laser power of 1200 W and a scanning speed of 1.2 m/min has the highest hardness of HV （190±42） but exhibits some lateral cracks due to its brittle nature, while Sample B produced at laser power of 1200 W and a scanning speed of 0.3 m/min shows no crack and a good microstructure with an increase in dendrites. The strain hardening coefficient of the deposited copper composite obtained in this experiment is 3.35.

Effect of electropulsing on anisotropy in strength of laser metal deposited Ti-6Al-4V alloy

The effect of electropulsing treatment on microstructure and mechanical strength of laser metal deposited Ti−6Al−4V alloy was investigated in order to eliminate the anisotropy in strength of laser metal deposited Ti−6Al−4V alloy by tensile tests,optical microscopy,scanning electron microscopy,electron back-scattered diffraction analyses and transmission electron microscopy.With increasing applied voltages from 0 to 130 V,the evolution of microstructure within columnarβgrains followed the sequence ofα′martensite→colonyαstructure→basket-weaveαstructure.The electropulsing treated at 130 V weakened the texture of martensite withinβgrains.The as-built Ti−6Al−4V alloy showed an anisotropy in yield strength(6.2%).After processing at 130 V,the anisotropy in yield strength was reduced to 0.6%,which was attributed to the almost equivalent distribution of Schmid factor in the samples deformed along different orientations.

Ceramics Surface Modification by Excimer Laser Metal Coating

Thin metallic layers (~ 2 μm) of Ni were deposited on polycrystalline Al2O3. ZrO2 and (Ce-TZP)+Al2O3 ceramic substrates. and further irradiated with pulsed excimer (Xeno chloride) laser pulses. The laser energy density was varied from 0.21 to 0.81 J / cm2 to optimize bending strength. For ZrO2 ceramic, it was found that the strength increases from 530 to 753 MPa at 0.51 J / cm2 irradiation. For Al2O3 and (Ce-TZP)+ Al2O3 the fracture strength also increases in varying degree. The causes of strength increment were discussed.

Effect of Powder Particle Size on the Fabrication of Ti-6Al-4V Using Direct Laser Metal Deposition from Elemental Powder Mixture

Direct LMD （laser metal deposition） was used to fabricate thin-wall Ti-6Al-4V using the powder mixture of Ti-6 wt.%Al-4 wt.%V. SEM （scanning electron microscopy）, OM （optical microscopy） and EDS （energy dispersive spectroscopy） were employed to examine the chemical composition and microstructure of the as-deposited sections. Vickers hardness tests were then applied to characterize the mechanical properties of the deposit samples which were fabricated using pre-mixed elemental powders. The EDS line scans indicated that the chemical composition of the samples was homogenous across the deposit. After significant analysis, some differences were observed among two sets of deposit samples which varied in the particle size of the mixing Ti-6wt.%Al-4wt.%V powder. It could be found that the set with similar particle number for Ti, Al and V powder made composition much more stable and could easily get industry qualified Ti-6Al-4V components.

Application of direct laser metal tooling for AISI H13 tool stee

In the die industry, it is commonly agreed that residual tool life can be successfully extended by timely repair of damaged surfaces. Traditionally, the main repair process is tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding, but a new process called direct laser metal tooling (DLMT) emerges. DLMT is a manual process, of which results depend on the materials of the powders and tools, the laser process and parameters. This technology is a direct-metal freeform fabrication technique in which a 200 W fiber laser is used. AISI H13 tool steel is a suitable material for die casting tools because of the high resistance to thermal fatigue and dimensional stability. In this research, AISI H13 tool steel was melted with metal powder by fiber laser. Before melting AISI H13, the powders were analyzed with XRF equipment. Then, hardness distribution of laser melted zone was investigated. The microstructure in laser melted zone was discussed. In order to identify the effect of particle size of powder on the melted zone, two types of particle sizes of powders were used. Experimental results show that the mold repair process using DLMT can be applied in the mold repair industry.

Numerical simulation of thermal behavior during laser metal deposition shaping

Abstract: Based on the element life and death theory of finite element analysis(FEA), a three-dimensional multi-track and multi-layer model for laser metal deposition shaping(LMDS) was developed with ANSYS parametric design language(APDL), and detailed numerical simulations of temperature and thermal stress were conducted. Among those simulations, long-edge parallel reciprocating scanning method was introduced. The distribution regularities of temperature, temperature gradient, Von Mise’s effective stress, X-directional, Y-directional and Z-directional thermal stresses were studied. LMDS experiments were carried out with nickel-based superalloy using the same process parameters as those in simulation. The measured temperatures of molten pool are in accordance with the simulated results. The crack engendering and developing regularities of samples show good agreement with the simulation results.

Fabrication of patterned transparent conductive glass via laser metal transfer for efficient electrical heating and antibacteria

Vapor deposition and three-dimensional(3D)printing technology are considered to be conventional methods to achieve patterned metal film preparation through the assistance of masks and high temperature.Therefore,there are still some challenges in fabricating metal films in template-free and normal temperature environment.In this work,we report a flexible and rapid laser metal transfer(LMT)technique for fabricating the various metal films(Cu,Ni,Sn,Al,Fe,and Ag)with different patterns without templates on arbitrary substrates(glass,polyimide(PI)films,and aluminum nitride(AlN)ceramic).Especially,the obtained transparent conductive glass displays high transmittance(more than 90%)and adjustable resistances(≈5Ω).According to the Joule effect,the interface resistance between Cu particles and copper oxide coating produces the high temperature approximately 280℃ at 2 V in a short time(≈60 s)and remains stable at 120℃ over 12 h.At last,the multifunctional glass with Cu patterns also shows excellent bactericidal activity(≈95%).This work demonstrates that laser metal transfer is an exceeding effective means of fabricating the micro/nano structures with potential applications in functional devices.

NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF TEMPERATURE FIELD IN DIRECT METAL LASER SINTERING PROCESS

A mathematical model is developed for simulating the heat transferring behavior in a direct metal laser sintering process. The model considers the thermal phenomena involved in the process, including conduction, radiation, and convection. A formula for the calculation of the heat conductivity of a sintering system containing solid phase, liquid phase, and gas phase is given. Due to the continuous movement of the laser beam, a local coordinate system centered on the laser beam is used to simplify the analytical calculation. Assuming that it is approximately a Gaussian laser beam, the heat conduction equation is resolved based on the assumption of the thermal insulating boundary conditions and the fixed thermal physical parameters. The FORTRAN language is employed to compile the program to simulate the temperature field in the direct copper powder sintering process. It shows a good agreement with the preliminary experimental results.[KH3/4D]

In situ laser deposition of NiTi intermetallics for corrosion improvement of Ti-6Al-4V alloy

NiTi intermetallic coatings were fabricated on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by melting Ni and Ti powders using laser metal deposition（LMD） process.The effects of NiTi reinforcement content on the microstructure,hardness and corrosion properties of the coatings were examined.The results show that the deposited coatings are characterized by NiTi,NiTi2 and NiTi3 intermetallic phases.An appreciable increase in corrosion resistance is obtained for all the coatings,and Ti55Ni45 coating shows the highest corrosion resistance;while coatings Ti50Ni50 and Ti45Ni55 follow in that succession.The reinforcement materials are proven to be corrosion resistant in the tested environment,and the effect of Ti is more dominant.

An overview of laser-based multiple metallic material additive manufacturing: from macro- to micro-scales

Additive manufacturing(AM)is an emerging customized three-dimensional(3D)functional product fabrication technology.It provides a higher degree of design freedom,reduces manufacturing steps,cost and production cycles.However,existing metallic component 3D printing techniques are mainly for the manufacture of single material components.With the increasing commercial applications of AM technologies,the need for 3D printing of more than one type of dissimilar materials in a single component increases.Therefore,investigations on multi-material AM(MMAM)emerge over the past decade.Lasers are currently widely used for the AM of metallic components where high temperatures are involved.Here we report the progress and trend in laser-based macro-and micro-scale AM of multiple metallic components.The methods covered in this paper include laser powder bed fusion,laser powder directed energy deposition,and laser-induced forward transfer for MMAM applications.The principles and process/material characteristics are described.Potential applications and challenges are discussed.Finally,future research directions and prospects are proposed.

A novel method of utilizing static mixer to obtain mixing homogeneity of multi-species powders in laser metal deposition

Real-time mixing of multi-species powder challenges Laser Metal Deposition(LMD)of Functionally Graded Materials(FGMs).The current work proposes a novel method of using a static mixer to realize rapid,uniform multi-species powder mixing.Firstly,copper powder and 316L stainless steel powder are selected to complete the powder mixing observation experiment with Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM)and Energy Dispersive Spectrometer(EDS).Secondly,computational fluid dynamics and particle mixing simulation models are used to analyze the flow field and particle motion characteristics in the static mixer.Finally,LMD experiment and metallo-graphic observation are carried out with 316L stainless steel powder and WC powder to verify the feasibility of the static mixer.This study provides a theoretical and practical basis for powder mixing in laser processing with a static mixer.The conclusions can also be applied to other processing fields requiring real-time and uniform mixing of multi-species powders.

Impact of Pulsed Laser Parameters and Scanning Pattern on the Properties of Thin-Walled Parts Manufactured Using Laser Metal Deposition

The quality of parts manufactured using laser metal deposition(LMD),similar to other additive manufacturing methods,is influenced by processing parameters.Such parameters determine geometric stability,favorable microstructures,and good mechanical properties.This study aimed to investigate the effects of pulsed laser parameters(duty cycle and pulse frequency)and scanning patterns(unidirectional and bidirectional patterns)on the properties of parts fabricated using LMD.Results show that the properties of the LMD-fabricated parts are obviously influenced by pulsed laser parameters and scanning patterns.Using the unidirectional scanning pattern in both pulsed laser parameters enhances the properties of the thin-walled parts prepared using LMD.An increase in duty cycle can improve geometric stability,increase grain size,and reduce microhardness.Furthermore,the geometric stability does not vary considerably with the use of different frequencies,but the microstructure of fabricated parts shows various grain sizes with different pulse frequencies.In addition,the microhardness increases as the frequency increases from 13.33 to 50 Hz.In general,the influence of the duty cycle on geometric properties is greater than that of frequency.Meanwhile,the impact of frequency on microhardness is greater than that of the duty cycle.

A comparative study on microstructure,nanomechanical and corrosion behaviors of AlCoCuFeNi high entropy alloys fabricated by selective laser melting and laser metal deposition

The present study investigated the microstructure,nanomechanics,and corrosion behavior of AlCoCuFeNi high entropy alloys fabricated by selective laser melting(SLM)and laser metal deposition(LMD).The microstructure of SLM-processed specimens was mainly composed of columnar-grained BCC matrix(^90μm in width)and Cu-rich twinned FCC phase.The columnar grains grew epitaxially along the building direction and exhibited a strong{001}texture.In comparison,a coarse columnar-grained BCC matrix(^150μm in width)with a stronger<001>texture,rod-like B2 precipitates,and large core-shell structured FCC phases were formed in the LMD-processed specimens due to the higher heat accumulation effect.Consequently,the LMD-processed specimens showed a lower hardness,wear resistance,and corrosion resistance,but higher creep resistance and reduced Young's modulus than the SLM-processed specimens.Hot cracks occurred in both types of specimens,which could not be completely suppressed due to Cu segregation.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of B-Bearing Austenitic Stainless Steel Fabricated by Laser Metal Deposition In-Situ Alloying

In the field repair application of laser metal deposition(LMD),the kinds of powder materials that can be used are limited,while the equipment components are made of various materials.Hence many components have to be repaired with heterogeneous materials.However,it is difficult to match the mechanical properties between the repaired layer and the substrate due to the diff erent materials.Based on the high flexibility of raw materials and processes in LMD,an in-situ alloying method is proposed herein for tailoring the mechanical properties of LMDed alloy.Using diff erent mixing ratios of Fe314 and 316 L stainless steel powders as the control parameter,the microstructure and mechanical properties of B-bearing austenitic stainless steel fabricated by LMD in-situ alloying with diff erent proportions of Fe314 and 316 L particles were studied.With the increase in the concentration of 316 L steel,the volume fraction of the eutectic phase in deposited B-bearing austenitic stainless steel reduced,the size of the austenite dendrite increased,the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength decreased monotonically,while the elongation increased monotonically.Moreover,the fracture mode changed from quasi-cleavage fracture to ductile fracture.By adding 316 L powder,the yield strength,tensile strength,and elongation of deposited B-bearing austenitic stainless steel could be adjusted within the range of 712 MPa–257 MPa,1325 MPa–509 MPa,and 8.7%–59.3%,respectively.Therefore,this work provides a new method and idea for solving the performance matching problem of equipment components in the field repair.

Microstructure and Size‑Dependent Mechanical Properties of Additively Manufactured 316L Stainless Steels Produced by Laser Metal Deposition

Metal additive manufacturing(AM),as a disruptive technology in the feld of fabricating metallic parts,has shown its ability to design component with macrostructural complexity.However,some of these functionally complex structures typically contain a wide range of feature sizes,namely,the characteristic length of elements in AM-produced components can vary from millimeter to meter-scale.The requisite for controlling performance covers nearly six orders of magnitude,from the microstructure to macro scale structure.Understanding the mechanical variation with the feature size is of critical importance for topology optimization engineers to make required design decisions.In this work,laser metal deposition(LMD)is adopted to manufacture 316L stainless steel(SS)samples.To evaluate the efect of defects and specimen size on mechanical properties of LMD-produced samples,fve rectangular sample sizes which ranged from non-standard miniature size to ASTM standard sub-sized samples were machined from the block.Tensile test reveals that the mechanical properties including yield strength(YS),ultimate tensile strength(UTS),and elongation to failure(εf)are almost the identical for samples with ASTM standard size.Whilst,relatively lower YS and UTS values,except forεf,are observed for samples with a miniature size compared with that of ASTM standard samples.Theεf values of LMD-produced 316L SS samples show a more complex trend with sample size,and are afected by three key infuencing factors,namely,slimness ratio,cluster of pores,and occupancy location of lack of fusion defects.In general,theεf values exhibit a decreasing trend with the increase of slimness ratio.Microstructure characterization reveals that the LMD-produced 316L samples exhibited a high stress status at low angle grain boundaries,whilst its location changed to high angle grain boundaries after plastic deformation.The grain size refnement and austenite-to-martensite phase transformation occurred during plastic deformation might be responsible for the very high YS and UTS attained in this study.The experimental works carried out in this study is expected to provide a guideline for evaluating the mechanical properties of LMD-produced parts with complex structure,where critical parameter such as a certain slimness ratio has to be considered.

Mechanical and microstructural characterization of additive manufactured Inconel 718 alloy by selective laser melting and laser metal deposition

The direct comparison of the microstructure and tensile properties of Inconel 718 fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) or laser metal deposition (LMD) has been carried out. In the as-built state, LMD-fabricated specimens show lower tensile yield strength and fracture elongation than SLM-fabricated specimens due to the coarser solidification microstructure, including grains, cellular dendrites and Laves phases. This is mainly because the cooling rate of the LMD process is 2 to 3 orders lower than that of the SLM process. Upon the same heat treatment, both yield strengths of SLMand LMD-fabricated specimens are enhanced significantly. Notably, LMD-fabricated specimens exhibit simultaneous improvement in the strength and ductility, which is mainly attributed to the presence of small granular Laves phases and uniformly distributed nanoscale c00 strengthening phases. The results could serve as a guidance for selecting suitable postheat treatment routes for specific additive manufacturing process to attain excellent strength-ductility synergy.

Underwater Laser Welding/Cladding for High-performance Repair of Marine Metal Materials:A Review

With the rapid developments of marine resource exploitation,mounts of marine engineering equipment are settled on the ocean.When it is not possible to move the damaged equipment into a dry dock,welding operations must be performed in underwater environments.The underwater laser welding/cladding technique is a promising and advanced technique which could be widely applied to the maintenance of the damaged equipment.The present review paper aims to present a critical analysis and engineering overview of the underwater laser welding/cladding technique.First,we elaborated recent advances and key issues of drainage nozzles all over the world.Next,we presented the underwater laser processing and microstructural-mechanical behavior of repaired marine materials.Then,the newly developed powder-feeding based and wire-feeding based underwater laser direct metal deposition techniques were reviewed.The differences between the convection,conduction,and the metallurgical kinetics in the melt pools during underwater laser direct metal deposition and in-air laser direct metal deposition were illustrated.After that,several challenges that need to be overcame to achieve the full potential of the underwater laser welding/cladding technique are proposed.Finally,suggestions for future directions to aid the development of underwater laser welding/cladding technology and underwater metallurgical theory are provided.The present review will not only enrich the knowledge in the underwater repair technology,but also provide important guidance for the potential applications of the technology on the marine engineering.