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Thursday, June 26, 2008 - 11:30 AM

Determining Melt Pool Temperature in Ti-6-4 Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication Deposition

R. A. Hafley, K. M. B. Taminger, E. K. Hoffman, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA; S. N. Sankaran, K. Butcher, Lockheed Martin, Hampton, VA

The electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3) process uses an electron beam and wire to fabricate metallic structures directly from computer aided design data in a layer-additive process. The EBF3 process is capable of bulk metal deposition at deposition rates in excess of 150 in3/hr or finer detail at lower deposition rates, depending upon the desired application. This process offers the potential for rapidly adding structural details to simpler cast or forged structures. In contrast to the conventional approach of machining large volumes of chips to produce a monolithic metallic structure, selective addition of metal onto simpler blanks of material promises significant reduction in lead time, material expenditure and machining costs. However, before the process can be industrially applied and certified for use in flight hardware, the properties of the deposited material and the interfaces between the base and the deposit must be thoroughly characterized. This paper will present tensile, fatigue and fracture data for thin-walled Ti-6-4 EBF3 deposits and compare the data to typical wrought material properties.

Summary: This paper will present tensile, fatigue and fracture data for thin-walled Ti-6-4 EBF3 deposits and compare the data to typical wrought material properties.