Selective Laser Melting (SLM) of Ti64 and Quality Control of its Products and Powder Feedstock
X. Wu1,2, R. Chu2, M. Sun2, J, Mei1,2, D, Tomus1, R. Boyer2 and J. Williams2
1 Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing(MCAM), Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
2 Falcontech, Wuxi, Jinagsu Province, China
SLM has been considered for aerospace and biomedical applications where quality, consistency and repeatability are essential. This paper reports on some testing results of SLMed Ti64 using designated aerospace grade commercial Ti64 powder. This powder is atomised using ALD EIGA process and 9 batches of powder from 3 lots, where each lot weighs 3 tons (metric or English), are used to SLM samples using laser powder bed system EoSM280. For each batch more than 20 tensile samples are SLMed and tested. It has been found that with a guaranteed quality of barstock, superb consistency and repeatability of the Ti powder can be obtained and this subsequently leads to consistent and repeatable mechanical properties in SLMed Ti64 material. In addition, Ti64 powders with 5 different oxygen contents have been produced and the mechanical properties of SLMed material were evaluated and compared with that of the wrought. The influence of post heat treatment including hot isostatic pressing is also studied and the microstructures under different processing conditions and post treatment conditions are analysed and compared. Some examples of SLMed Ti parts are presented and the challenges for qualifying SLMed Ti components for aerospace and biomedical applications are discussed.