The Additive Manufacturing (AM) of Titanium Alloys

TLDR

High cost limits widespread use of titanium alloys; powder metallurgy offers a cost‑effective route, and additive manufacturing is an emerging attractive powder‑metallurgy technique. The paper discusses additive manufacturing with a focus on the titanium alloy Ti‑6Al‑4V. The authors review multiple additive manufacturing approaches and illustrate them with examples of fabricated components. Ti‑6Al‑4V parts produced by AM exhibit microstructures and mechanical properties comparable to cast and wrought counterparts, and the technique offers economic advantages over conventional processing. Keywords include additive manufacturing, 3D printing, CAD, CAM, laser, electron beam, near‑net‑shape, remanufacturing, powder bed fusion, and direct energy deposition.

Abstract

High cost is the major reason that there is not more wide-spread use of titanium alloys. Powder Metallurgy (P/M) represents one cost effective approach to fabrication of titanium components and Additive Manufacturing (AM) is an emerging attractive PM Technique . In this paper AM is discussed with the emphasis on the “work horse” titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V. The various approaches to AM are presented and discussed, followed by some examples of components produced by AM. The microstructures and mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V produced by AM are listed and shown to compare very well with cast and wrought product. Finally, the economic advantages to be gained using the AM technique compared to conventionally processed material are presented. Key words: Additive Manufacturing (AM), 3D Printing, CAD, CAM, Laser, Electron beam, near net shape, remanufacturing, Powder Bed Fusion (PBF), Direct Energy Deposition (DED)