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Abstract
A compositionally graded material has been fabricated using direct laser fabrication (DFL). Two types of feedstock were fed simultaneously
into the laser focal point, a burn resistant (BurTi) alloy Ti25V15Cr2Al0.2C powder and a Ti6Al4V wire. The local composition of the alloy
was changed by altering the ratio of powder to wire by varying the feed rate of the powder whilst maintaining a fixed feed rate of wire-feed. For the
range of compositions between about 20% and 100% BurTi only the beta phase was observed and the composition and lattice parameter varied
monotonically. The grain size was found to be much finer in these functionally graded samples than in laser fabricated Ti64. Some samples were
made using the wire-feed alone, where it was found that the microstructure is different from that found when using powder feed alone. The results
are discussed in terms of the power requirements for laser fabrication of powder and wire samples.
# 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Direct laser fabrication; Functionally graded materials; Microstructure and phases; Titanium alloys
1. Introduction
The concept of functionally graded materials (FGM) was
introduced in 1984 as a means for preparing thermal barrier
materials [1]. It is a class of advanced materials in which the
composition and microstructure change gradually from one
side to the other, resulting in a gradient in composition, and thus
properties.
Since then, an effort to develop high-performance heatresistant materials using functionally gradient technology has
continued. In recent years, five methods such as CVD/PVD,
powder metallurgy, plasma sprays, centrifugal casting and self
propagating combustion synthesis (SHS) [26], have been
employed to manufacture a gradient in composition for various
applications, such as chemical, biochemical and mechanical
properties. Among the FGMs, the ceramicmetal FGMs are
widely used in industry, military and aerospace. These kinds of
FGMs combine the wear and refractory properties resistance
properties of ceramics with the toughness of metals, leading to
smooth transitions in thermal stress along the thickness direction
and a minimized stress concentration at the interface. A similar
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 121 414 7842; fax: +44 121 414 7890.
E-mail address: X.Wu.1@bham.ac.uk (X. Wu).
0169-4332/$ see front matter # 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2006.02.028
problem with this process is that low capture rate of the powder
(1030%), therefore leading to wastage of the scattered
powder if two powders are mixed with each other. In order to
overcome this problem Ti6Al4V wire has been used in the
present work as one of the feedstock, which is simultaneously
fed with a burn-resistant Ti alloy (Ti25Cr15V2Al0.2C)
powder to create functionally graded materials, in this case an
improved burn-resistance at an end of the sample. The use of
wire feeding alone to deposit one layer and several layers of
stainless steel has been reported previously [8,9]. However, it
is more difficult to melt both forms of materials without leaving
any un-melted powder or wire in the sample due to different
laser powers required for melting powder and for wire. In
addition to the technical challenge of feeding wire and powder
simultaneously, this study focused firstly on optimising the
processing conditions to avoid any un-melted powders/wires
since these can lead to low ductility of the laser fabricated
materials [10] and secondly, on understanding the microstructure of the compositionally/functionally graded material.
2. Experimental procedures
The materials used in this work are Ti6Al4V (wt.%) wire
with a diameter of 0.45 mm and a burn resistant titanium alloy
Ti25V15Cr2Al0.2C (wt.%) (BurTi) powder. The powder
was gas-atomised by Crucible Research, Pittsburgh, USA, from
an ingot produced using the plasma melter in the IRC. The
oxygen content in the atomised powder was 1900 ppm
(0.19 wt.%). A hot rolled Ti6Al4V plate of 20 mm thick was
used as substrates for all DLF work and the substrates were
ground with 320 grit SiC paper, and then degreased with
acetone and ethanol before use.
The laser used in this study was a ROFIN SINAR TRIAGON
1750 W CO2 laser. The fabrication was carried out in an
atmosphere-controlled glove box with the oxygen kept below
5 ppm. A CNC controlled wire-feed system, including a
precision wire-feed nozzle developed in-house, was used which
can deliver wires with a minimum diameter of 0.4 mm. A
TWIN 10-COMPACT powder feeder system was employed to
deliver the Ti25V15Cr2Al0.2C (wt.%) powder. Some
modification has been carried out on the powder feed system so
that the powder feed speed can be accurately controlled by the
CNC system. Fig. 1 shows the schematic of the DLF facility
used in this study for the manufacture of compositionally
graded Ti alloys using simultaneous powder and wire feed.
A Leica light optical microscope with Zeiss KS 300 software
has been used to measure the grain size distribution in the
samples. A PHILIPS XL 30 scanning electron microscope interfaced to an Oxford Instruments X-ray EDX analytical system was
used for microstructural and compositional analysis. A Philips
Xpert X-ray diffractometer was used to measure the lattice
parameters of the samples at different positions along their length.
Several thin wall samples with a width of 20 mm, a thickness
of 2 mm and a height of 42 mm were built. The laser power
used in this work was 755 W and the laser scan speed was
100 mm/min. The burn-resistant titanium alloy powder was fed
at a rate varying from a nominal minimum of 2.64 g/min to a
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Fig. 2. Microstructural and diffraction data of DLFed Ti64 wire samples: (a) macrostructure of DLFed Ti6Al4V wire, (b) SEM low magnification of DLFed Ti64
wire, (c) SEM high magnification of (b) and (d) comparison of X-ray diffraction pattern of annealed Ti64 commercial bar and DLFed Ti64 wire.
Fig. 4. BurTi powder and Ti6Al4V wire feed rates used for the fabrication of
the compositionally graded thin wall sample shown in Fig. 2.
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Fig. 5. Optical microstructure of FGM deposit showing that the grain size is reduced with increasing BurTi powder feed rate at a laser power of 755 W and 100 mm/
min scan speed: (a) Ti6Al4V wire, (b) 4.88 g/min BurTi powder with 0.4 g/min Ti6Al4V wire, (c) 11.36 g/min BurTi powder with 0.4 g/min Ti6Al4V wire,
(d) 16.34 g/min BurTi powder with 0.4 g/min Ti6Al4V, (e) 18.8 g/min BurTi powder with 0.4 g/min Ti6Al4V, (f) 18.8 g/min BurTi powder only.
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Fig. 6. Grain size distribution obtained from different locations in the FGM deposit: (a) 2.64 g/min BurTi powder with 0.4 g/min Ti6Al4V wire, (b) 6.58 g/min
BurTi powder with 0.4 g/min Ti6Al4V wire, (c) 13.85 g/min BurTi powder with 0.4 g/min Ti6Al4V, (d) 18.8 g/min BurTi powder with 0.4 g/min Ti6Al4V, (e)
18.8 g/min BurTi powder only, (f) average grain size distribution of the FGM sample.
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Fig. 8. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum at different positions of FGM thin wall sample made by DLF with BurTi powder and Ti64 wire at the following feed rates:
(a) 2.64 g/min BurTi powder with 0.4 g/min Ti6Al4V wire, (b) 6.58 g/min BurTi powder with 0.4 g/min Ti6Al4V wire, (c) 18.8 g/min BurTi powder only, (d)
compare (c) with (a and b) and (e) the shift of 2u of b(1 1 0) and the change of lattice parameter a.
From previous work [16], it has been found that during laser
fabrication Ti64 tends to grow on the previous layer and
nucleation in the newly deposited layer occurs only under some
specific conditions whereas in laser fabricated BurTi nucleation
normally takes place in every layer of the deposition. It is
perhaps surprising that a small amount of BurTi would change
the solidification mechanism completely in the Ti6Al4V from
epitaxial growth and thus a columnar microstructure, to
nucleation dominating in the deposition so that equiaxed grains
form. However, it should be noted that the minimum amount
of BurTi used in these experiments corresponds to a significant
change in alloy composition.
4. General discussion
The results presented in this paper have shown that the use
of wire as one of the feedstock material is a practical way
forward for the manufacture of functionally graded alloys. The
1430
fact that only about 10% of the BurTi powder that was fed into
the laser was incorporated into the build emphasises the waste
of powder that would occur if two powders were used. If wire is
used it should be possible to re-use most of the unused powder.
The complex interplay between alloy composition, cooling
rate and thermal cycles makes it very difficult to predict the
microstructure of alloys prepared in this way. Further work is
underway in which detailed thermal histories will be measured
experimentally and used to validate modelling of the process so
that thermal histories over a wide range of conditions can be
predicted. This should allow the development of microstructures and the formation of equilibrium and non-equilibrium
phases to be understood so that properties of functionally
graded materials can be controlled.
5. Conclusions
1. When wire feedstock is used for laser fabrication, the power
requirements to produce fully dense samples are increased
above that when using powder. This higher power leads to
higher temperatures and slower cooling so that in contrast to
powder samples no martensite is formed.
2. Simultaneous feed of powder and wire allows successful
production of functionally graded samples.
3. The changes in microstructure observed along the lengths of
functionally graded samples are similar to those expected
from the imposed changes in composition, although the
change from the columnar grains in pure Ti6Al4V when
DLFed to equiaxed grains shows that addition of the BurTi
alloy to Ti6Al4V changes the way in which solidification
occurs at relatively low concentrations.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support
of this work by EPSRC, grant no.: GR/S02365/01. Thanks are
also due to Prof. M.H. Loretto for useful discussions.
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