Additive Manufacturing of Ceramic Structures by Laser Engineered Net Shaping

Ceramic is an important material with outstanding physical properties whereas impurities and porosities generated by traditional manufacturing methods limits its further industrial applications. In order to solve this problem, direct fabrication of Al2O3 ceramic structures is conducted by laser engineered net shaping system and pure ceramic powders. Grain refinement strengthening method by doping Zr O2 and dispersion strengthening method by doping Si C are proposed to suppress cracks in fabricating Al2O3 structure. Phase compositions, microstructures as well as mechanical properties of fabricated specimens are then analyzed. The results show that the proposed two methods are effective in suppressing cracks and structures of single-bead wall, arc and cylinder ring are successfully deposited. Stable phase of α-Al2O3 and t-Zr O2 are obtained in the fabricated specimens. Micro-hardness higher than 1700 HV are also achieved for both Al2O3 and Al2O3/Zr O2, which are resulted from fine directional crystals generated by the melting-solidification process. Results presented indicate that additive manufacturing is a very attractive technique for the production of high-performance ceramic structures in a single step.

Simulation and experimental analysis of melt pool evolution in laser engineered net shaping

In this work,the evolution of melt pool under single-point and single-line printing in the laser engineered net shaping(LENS)process is analyzed.Firstly,the basic structure of the melt pool model of the LENS process is established and the necessary assumptions are made.Then,the establishment process of the multi-physical field model of the melt pool is introduced in detail.It is concluded that the simulation model results are highly consistent with the online measurement experiment results in terms of melt pool profile,space temperature gradient,and time temperature gradient.Meanwhile,some parameters,such as the 3D morphology and surface fluid field of the melt pool,which are not obtained in the online measurement experiment,are analyzed.Finally,the influence of changing the scanning speed on the profile,peak temperature,and temperature gradient of the single-line melt pool is also analyzed,and the following conclusions are obtained:With the increase in scanning speed,the profile of the melt pool gradually becomes slender;The relationship between peak temperature and scanning speed is approximately linear in a certain speed range;The space temperature gradient at the tail of the melt pool under different scanning speeds hardly changes with the scanning speed,and the time temperature gradient at the tail of the melt pool is in direct proportion to the scanning speed.

Comparative study on microstructure and electrochemical corrosion resistance of Al7075 alloy prepared by laser additive manufacturing and forging technology

Al7075 alloy is a typical aviation aluminum with good mechanical properties and anodic oxidation effect.Laser engineered net shaping technology has unique advantages in the integrated forming of high-performance large aircraft structural parts.The manufacturing of 7075 aluminum alloy structural parts by laser engineered net shaping technology has become an important development direction in the future aerospace field.Electrochemical corrosion resistance of aluminum alloys is of vital importance to improve reliability and life-span of lightweight components.A comparative study on microstructure and anti-corrosion performance of Al7075 alloy prepared by laser additive manufacturing and forging technology was conducted.There are hole defects in LENS-fabricated Al7075 alloy with uniformly distributedηphase.No defects are observed in Al7075 forgings.The large S phase particles and small ellipsoidalηphase particles are found in Al matrix.The corrosion mechanisms were revealed according to the analysis of polarization curves and corrosion morphology.It was found that compared with that prepared by forgings,the additive manufactured samples have lower corrosion tendency and higher corrosion rate.Corrosion occurred preferentially at the hole defects.The incomplete passivation film at the defects leads to the formation of a local cell composed of the internal Al,corrosion solution and the surrounding passive film,which further aggravates the corrosion.

THE MULTI-LAYER LASER CLADDING OF Ni60 ALLOY

The Multi layer coating of Ni60 alloy was got by multi layer laser cladding. The height of the coating was about 12mm and the wall of the coating was perpendicular to the base. The microstructure of the coating was made up of fine dendrite. The conjunction between layers was good.

Injection molding of ultra-fine Si_3N_4 powder for gas-pressure sintering

The ceramic injection molding technique was used in the gas-pressure sintering of ultra-fine Si3N4 powder. The feedstock＇s flowability, debinding rate, defect evolution, and microstructural evolution during production were explored. The results show that the solid volume loading of less than 50vol% and the surfactant mass fraction of 6wt% result in a perfect flowability of feedstock; this feedstock is suitable for injection molding. When the debinding time is 8 h at 40°C, approximately 50% of the wax can be solvent debinded. Defects detected during the preparation are traced to improper injection parameters, mold design, debinding parameters, residual stress, or inhomogeneous composition distribution in the green body. The bulk density, Vickers hardness, and fracture toughness of the gas-pressure-sintered Si3N4 ceramic reach 3.2 g/cm^3, 16.5 GPa, and 7.2 MPa·m^1/2, respectively.