Defect Morphology in Ti-6Al-4V Parts Fabricated by Selective Laser Melting and Electron Beam Melting

Abstract

In order to investigate the morphology of defects present in Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and Electron Beam Melting (EBM) processes, Ti-6Al-4V specimens were fabricated with varying porosity using non-optimum processing parameters. Defective specimens were sectioned and polished for microscopy. Image processing was adopted for statistically analyzing the characteristics of defects, such as distribution of defect area and dimensional proportion of each defect. It is found that defect morphology is influenced by process parameters as a result of a variation in the melt pool. Image processing of a cross-section could be a feasible way for calculating porosity of specimens.