Laser Metal Deposition of Ti-6Al-4V Structures: Analysis of the Build Height Dependent Microstructure and Mechanical Properties

Abstract

The laser metal deposition (LMD) process is used to increase the productivity rate in the field of laser additive manufacturing. Large structural Ti-6Al-4V components can be manufactured resource efficiently with this approach. In contrast, conventional manufacturing processes machine up to 95% from the bulk material to produce parts for the aerospace industry [1]. For high wall structures, the thermal boundaries vary with the building height and therefore a height dependent microstructure develops. In this paper, the mechanical properties along the build height of a wall structure are analyzed through texture analysis and hardness measurements. In addition, these results are compared to a new approach of a building strategy by layer wise adapted process parameters. The developed approach leads to reduced shape deviation of the wall thickness and its influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V is investigated in this paper.