Rapid cooling rates and stochastic interactions between the heat source and feedstock in additive manufacturing (AM) result in strong anisotropy and process-induced defects deteriorating the tensile ductility and fatigue resistance of printed parts. We show that by deliberately introducing a high density of lack of fusion (LoF) defects, a processing regime that has been avoided so far, followed by pressure assisted heat treatment, we can print Ti-6Al-4V with reduced texture and exceptional properties surpassing that of wrought, cast, forged, annealed, and solution-treated and aged counterparts. Such improvement is achieved through the formation of low aspect ratio α-grains around LoF defects upon healing, surrounded by α-laths. This occurrence is attributed to surface energy reduction and recrystallization events taking place during healing of LoF defects. Our approach to design duplex microstructures is applicable to a wide range of AM processes and alloys and can be used in the design of damage tolerant microstructures.
Aside from the capability of additive manufacturing (AM) methods in fabricating components with complex geometries, two crucial potentials of this manufacturing process that are worth mentioning are its flexibility in being combined with other production methods as well as use of a variety of materials in a single production platform to make multi-material and composite products. Implementation of multiple materials in integrated structures has been shown to improve the functionality, weight reduction and, by merging the assembly and production into one stage, modify the manufacturing processe…
A thick electrode with high areal capacity has been developed as a strategy for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries, but thick electrodes have difficulties in manufacturing and limitations in ion transport. Here, we reported a new manufacturing approach for ultra-thick electrode with aligned structure, called structure electrode additive manufacturing or SEAM, which aligns active materials to the through-thicknesses direction of electrodes using shear flow and a designed printing path. The ultra-thick electrodes with high loading of active materials, low tortuous structure, and good stru…
The future of space exploration missions will rely on technologies increasing their endurance and self-sufficiency, including for manufacturing objects on-demand. We propose a process for handling and additively manufacturing powders that functions independently of the gravitational environment and with no restriction on feedstock powder flowability. Based on a specific sequence of boundary loads applied to the granular packing, powder is transported to the printing zone, homogenized and put under compression to increase the density of the final part. The powder deposition process is validated…
Additive manufacturing and 3D printing in particular have the potential to revolutionize existing fabrication processes where objects with complex structures and shapes can be built with multifunctional material systems. For electrochemical energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors, 3D printing methods allows alternative form factors to be conceived based on the end use application need in mind at the design stage. Additively manufactured energy storage devices require active materials and composites that are printable and this is influenced by performance requirements and t…
Many alloys made by Additive Manufacturing (AM) require careful design of post-heat treatment as an indispensable step of microstructure engineering to further enhance the performance. We developed a high-throughput approach by fabricating a long-bar sample heat-treated under a monitored gradient temperature zone for phase transformation study to accelerate the post-heat treatment development of AM alloys. This approach has been proven efficient in determining the aging temperature with peak hardness. We observed that the precipitation strengthening is predominant for the studied superalloy by…
During powder production, the pre-alloyed powder composition often deviates from the target composition leading to undesirable properties of additive manufacturing (AM) components. Therefore, we developed a method to perform high-throughput calculation and uncertainty quantification by using a CALPHAD-based ICME framework (CALPHAD: calculations of phase diagrams, ICME: integrated computational materials engineering) to optimize the composition, and took the high-strength low-alloy steel (HSLA) as a case study. We analyzed the process-structure-property relationships for 450,000 compositions ar…
A three-dimensional model of a partially melted powder bed with particles stochastically distributed in size and space coordinates has been developed. Numerical simulation of temperature distributions in stainless steel AISI 316L and Al-12Si powders in vacuum, air and argon has been performed to analyze unsteady heat transfer in a porous medium. The numerical model demonstrates a large effect of heat transfer through the gas phase in case of powders with low thermal conductivities like stainless steels. At the porosity level of 65\% and above, the mechanism of heat transfer drastically changes…
The near-rapid solidification conditions during additive manufacturing can lead to selection of non-equilibrium phases. Sharp interface models via interface response functions have been used earlier to explain the microstructure selection under such solidification conditions. However, most of the sharp interface models assume linear superposition of contributions of alloying elements without considering the non-linearity associated with the phase diagram. In this report, both planar and dendritic Calphad coupled sharp interface models have been implemented and used to explain the growth-contro…
An investigation on the additive manufacturing and the experimental testing of 3D models of tensegrity prisms and columns is presented. An electron beam melting facility (Arcam EBM S12) is employed to 3D print structures composed of tensegrity prisms endowed with rigid bases and temporary supports, which are made out of the titanium alloy Ti6Al4V. The temporary supports are removed after the additive manufacturing phase, when Spectra cross-strings are added to the 3D printed models, and a suitable state of internal prestress is applied to the structure. The experimental part of the study shows…
The accumulation of residual stress during welding and additive manufacturing is an important effect that can significantly anticipate the workpiece failure. In this work we exploit the physical and analytical transparency of a 1.5D model to show that the deposition of thermally expanded material onto an elastic substrate leads to the accumulation of strain incompatibility. This field, which is the source of residual stress in the system, introduces memory of the construction history even in the absence of plastic deformations. The model is then applied to describe the onset and the progressio…
With a goal of accelerating fabrication of additively manufactured components with precise microstructures, we developed a method for structural characterization of key features in additively manufactured materials and parts. The method utilizes deep learning based on an image-to-image translation conditional Generative Adversarial Neural Network architecture and enables fast and incrementally more accurate predictions of the prevalent geometric features, including melt pool boundaries and printing induced defects visible in etched optical images. These structural details are heterogeneous in …
The dendrite growth in casting and additive manufacturing is rather important and related to the formation of some defects. However, quantitatively simulating the growth of dendrites with arbitrary crystallographic orientations in 3-dimension(3D) is still very challenging. In the present work, we develop a multi-grid Cellular Automaton (CA) model for the dendrite growth. In this model, the interfacial area is further discretized into a child grid, on which the decentered octahedron growth algorithm is performed. The model is comprehensively and quantitatively verified by comparing with the pre…
Laser-based additive manufacturing offers a promising route for 3D printing of metallic parts. We evidence experimentally a particular columnar solidification microstructure in a Laser Powder-Bed Fusion processed Inconel 718 nickel-based alloy, that we interpret using phase-field simulations and classical dendritic growth theories. Owing to the large temperature gradient and cooling rate, solidification takes places through dendritic arrays wherein the characteristic length scales, i.e tip radius, diffusion length and primary spacing, are of the same order. This leads to a weak mutual interact…
After more than five decades of research, the failure of bone implants is still an issue that becomes increasingly urgent to solve in our ageing population. Among the reasons for failure, catastrophic brittle fracture is one event that is directly related to the implant s material and fabrication and that deserves more attention. Indeed, clinically available implants pale at reproducing the hierarchical and heterogeneous microstructural organization of our natural bones, ultimately failing at reproducing their mechanical strength and toughness. Nevertheless, the recent advances in additive and…
With an exponential rise in the popularity and availability of additive manufacturing (AM), a large focus has been directed toward research in this topic's movement, while trying to distinguish themselves from similar works by simply adding nanomaterials to their process. Though nanomaterials can add impressive properties to nanocomposites (NCs), there are expansive amounts of opportunities that are left unexplored by simply combining AM with NCs without discovering synergistic effects and novel emerging material properties that are not possible by each of these alone. Cooperative, evolving pr…
Additive manufacturing (AM) allows printing parts of complex geometries that cannot be produced by standard technologies. Besides, AM provides the possibility to create gradient materials with different structural and physical properties. We, for the first time, printed gradient soft magnetic materials from paramagnetic powders (316L steel and Cu-12Al-2Fe (in wt.%) aluminium bronze)). The magnetic properties can be adjusted during the in-situ printing process. The saturated magnetization value of alloys reaches 49 emu g^{-1}. The changes in the magnetic properties have been attributed to the f…
Metal additive manufacturing has gained extensive attention from research institutes and companies to fabricate intricate parts and functionally graded materials. However, the porosity of the as-built part deteriorates the mechanical property and even hinders the further application of metal additive manufacturing. Particularly, the mechanisms of keyhole pores associated with the keyhole fluctuation are not fully understood. To reveal the mechanisms of the keyhole pores formation, we adopt a multiphysics thermal-fluid flow model incorporating heat transfer, liquid flow, metal evaporation, Mara…
Selective laser melting is receiving increasing interest as an additive manufacturing technique. Residual stresses induced by the large temperature gradients and inhomogeneous cooling process can favour the generation of cracks. In this work, a crystal plasticity finite element model is developed to simulate the formation of residual stresses and to understand the correlation between plastic deformation, grain orientation and residual stresses in the additive manufacturing process. The temperature profile and grain structure from thermal-fluid flow and grain growth simulations are implemented …
Additive manufacturing (AM) processes produce parts with improved physical, chemical, and mechanical properties compared to conventional manufacturing processes. In AM processes, intricate part geometries are produced from multicomponent alloy powder, in a layer-by-layer fashion with multipass laser melting, solidification, and solid-state phase transformations, in a shorter manufacturing time, with minimal surface finishing, and at a reasonable cost. However, there is an increasing need for post-processing of the manufactured parts via, for example, stress relieving heat treatment and hot iso…
Wire-feed laser additive manufacturing is an emerging fabrication technique capable of highly automated large-scale volume production that can reduce both material waste and overall cost while improving product lead times. Quality assurance is necessary for implementation into critical structural applications. However, the large number of process variables along with the cost associated with traditional trial and error methods makes this difficult. This study investigates a comprehensive quality framework based on learning from experimental data that will enable improved quality control along …
Joining of dissimilar metals is required for numerous applications in industries such as chemical, energy and automotive. It is challenging due to differences in melting point, density, and thermal expansion of the metals being joined. Common welding techniques involve limiting melting and solidification to a narrow area leading to high thermal stresses and potentially brittle intermetallic phases. Furthermore, the geometric complexity of these welded joints can be rather limited. Additive Manufacturing (AM) presents new techniques for joining of dissimilar metals. One of the emerging methods …
Commercial powder bed fusion additive manufacturing systems use recoaters for the layer-by-layer distribution of powder. Despite the known limitations of recoaters, there has been relatively little work presented on the possible benefits of alternative powder delivery systems. Here, we show the use of a technology using simple vibration to control the powder flow for powder bed additive manufacturing. The capabilities of this approach are illustrated experimentally using two very different powders; a `conventional' gas atomized Ti-6Al-4V powder designed for electron beam additive manufacturing…
Elastocaloric cooling, which exploits the latent heat released and absorbed as stress-induced phase transformations are reversibly cycled in shape memory alloys, has recently emerged as a frontrunner in non-vapor-compression cooling technologies. The intrinsically high thermodynamic efficiency of elastocaloric materials is limited only by work hysteresis. Here, we report on creating high-performance low-hysteresis elastocaloric cooling materials via additive manufacturing of Titanium-Nickel (Ti-Ni) alloys. Contrary to established knowledge of the physical metallurgy of Ti-Ni alloys, intermetal…
Fusion-based metal additive manufacturing (AM) is a disruptive technology that can be employed to fabricate metallic component of near-net-shape with an unprecedented combination of superior properties. However, the interrelationship between AM processing and the resulting microstructures is still not well understood. This poses a grand challenge in controlling the development of microstructures during AM to achieve desired properties. Here we study the microstructure development of a single melt pool, the building block of AM-fabricated metallic component, using a phase-field model specifical…
Thermal fracture is prevalent in many engineering problems and is one of the most devastating defects in metal additive manufacturing. Due to the interactive underlying physics involved, the computational simulation of such a process is challenging. In this work, we propose a thermo-mechanical phase-field fracture model, which is based on a thermodynamically consistent derivation. The influence of different coupling terms such as damage-informed thermomechanics and heat conduction and temperature-dependent fracture properties, as well as different phase-field fracture formulations, are discuss…
Characterizing meltpool shape and geometry is essential in metal Additive Manufacturing (MAM) to control the printing process and avoid defects. Predicting meltpool flaws based on process parameters and powder material is difficult due to the complex nature of MAM process. Machine learning (ML) techniques can be useful in connecting process parameters to the type of flaws in the meltpool. In this work, we introduced a comprehensive framework for benchmarking ML for melt pool characterization. An extensive experimental dataset has been collected from more than 80 MAM articles containing MAM pro…
In this work, a numerical simulation framework is presented based on the Phase Field Method that is able to capture the evolution of heterogeneous metallic microstructures during solidification. The involved physics can prove especially useful when studying not only systems undergoing thermal gradients, such as in homogeneous systems, but also in conditions that exhibit stark spatial gradients, i.e. when these inhomogeneities are present even on a mesoscopic scale. To illustrate the capabilities of the model, in-situ alloying of a High Entropy Alloy during Laser Powder Bed Fusion is investigat…
