Additive Manufacturing: Alloy Design, Process Optimization and Microstructure Engineering

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystalline Metals and Alloys".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 5100

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Research Associate, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Interests: calculation of phase diagrams (CALPHAD); additive manufacturing; integrated computational materials engineering (ICME); density functional theory (DFT); phase transformations; computational thermodynamics

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Guest Editor
Postdoctoral Researcher, Leibniz-Institut für Festkörper- und Werkstoffforschung (IFW), Dresden, Germany
Interests: laser additive manufacturing; alloy design; microstructure design

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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Jammu, Jammu, India
Interests: additive manufacturing; laser materials processing; laser shock peening; laser annealing; wire arc additive manufacturing
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the years, additive manufacturing (AM) has proved to be the most sought-after processing technique for fabricating metallic alloys due to its capability to fabricate components with high dimensional accuracy. The layer-by-layer deposition adopted during AM provides distinct advantages such as the freedom to produce parts with intricate geometries, reduced material wastage, and high production flexibility.  Recently, AM has also been explored for joining dissimilar materials for enhanced material performance by taking advantage of the characteristic properties possessed by the individual materials. This opens avenues to explore new gradient materials intertwined with constituent materials, with varying properties for site-specific performance or functionally graded materials for smooth change in properties between the constituent materials.

In the quest to increase the realm of materials that can be processed using AM and employed for different applications with required properties, some possibilities that could be considered are as follows.

  1. New single/gradient alloys can be designed using an integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) approach to design new microstructures and further evaluate their macroscale performance.
  2. Process parameters for commercial alloys can be optimized to minimize defects such as solidification cracks and porosity while residual stress can be evaluated to establish its effect on microstructure evolution and mechanical properties.
  3. Microstructure can be controlled during AM, or can be improved with the help of post-processing techniques to achieve the required design targets for enhanced performance.

This Special Issue focuses on the latest progress in the field of AM that is targeted towards new alloy design (for or using AM), process optimization for conventional/newly designed alloys, and microstructure engineering through additive manufacturing (coupled with post-processing routes) using experimental and/or computational techniques. Original contributions related to the above-mentioned aspects are welcome in the form of short communications, full-length articles, and reviews.

Dr. Soumya Sridar
Dr. Avinash Hariharan
Dr. Shiva Sekar
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • alloy design for additive manufacturing
  • ICME
  • CALPHAD based alloy design
  • microstructure design
  • porosity
  • cracking
  • residual stress
  • material characterization
  • phase transformations
  • mechanical and functional properties

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 4291 KiB  
Article
Modeling Microsegregation during Metal Additive Manufacturing: Impact of Dendrite Tip Kinetics and Finite Solute Diffusion
by V. S. Hariharan, Baler Nithin, L. Ruban Raj, Surendra Kumar Makineni, B. S. Murty and Gandham Phanikumar
Crystals 2023, 13(5), 842; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13050842 - 19 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1671
Abstract
Rapid solidification during metal additive manufacturing (AM) leads to non-equilibrium microsegregation, which can result in the formation of detrimental phases and cracking. Most of the microsegregation models assume a Scheil-type solidification, where the solidification interface is planar and there exists a local equilibrium [...] Read more.
Rapid solidification during metal additive manufacturing (AM) leads to non-equilibrium microsegregation, which can result in the formation of detrimental phases and cracking. Most of the microsegregation models assume a Scheil-type solidification, where the solidification interface is planar and there exists a local equilibrium at the interface along with either zero or infinite solute diffusion in the respective participating phases—solid and liquid. This assumption leads to errors in prediction. One has to account for finite solute diffusion and the curvature at the dendritic tip for more accurate predictions. In this work, we compare different microsegregation models, that do and do not consider finite diffusion and dendrite tip kinetics, against experiments. We also propose a method to couple dendrite tip kinetics with the diffusion module (DICTRA®) implemented in Thermo-Calc®. The models which accounted for both finite diffusion and dendrite tip kinetics matched well with the experimental data. Full article
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12 pages, 11035 KiB  
Article
Effect of Lanthanum Oxide on the Microstructure and Properties of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy during CMT-Additive Manufacturing
by Huanyu Liu, Shuang Wang, Jian Liang, Hong Hu, Qingtao Li and Hongrui Chen
Crystals 2023, 13(3), 515; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13030515 - 17 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1274
Abstract
Lanthanum oxide powder was added to improve the microstructure and properties of a Ti-6Al-4V alloy part during cold metal transfer (CMT) based on wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM). The macrostructure, microstructure and properties of the part were studied by using an optical microscope [...] Read more.
Lanthanum oxide powder was added to improve the microstructure and properties of a Ti-6Al-4V alloy part during cold metal transfer (CMT) based on wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM). The macrostructure, microstructure and properties of the part were studied by using an optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), electron backscatter(ed) diffraction (EBSD), microhardness evaluation and a tensile test. The results showed that the β grain size and martensite (α) size were reduced by adding lanthanum oxide powder. The texture intensity of the part also decreased due to the change in microstructure. Accordingly, the microhardness and tensile properties of the part obtained by adding lanthanum oxide were improved. In addition, based on the interdependence theory model, adding La2O3 particles in the molten pool as heterogeneous nucleation points could reduce the distance of XSD, so fine equiaxed β grains can be formed in the deposition layer. Full article
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12 pages, 9169 KiB  
Article
Effect of External Magnetic Field on the Forming, Microstructure and Property of TC4 Titanium Alloy during the Directed Energy Deposition Arc Additive Manufacturing
by Yubo Bao, Hongwei Sun, Xiaoyu Cai, Sanbao Lin and Chao Chen
Crystals 2023, 13(2), 235; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13020235 - 29 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1524
Abstract
In this work, the thin wall components of TC4 titanium alloy were produced by using external magnetic field hybrid gas metal welding (EM-GMAW). The effect of the external magnetic field on the forming, microstructure, and property of wire arc additively manufactured TC4 titanium [...] Read more.
In this work, the thin wall components of TC4 titanium alloy were produced by using external magnetic field hybrid gas metal welding (EM-GMAW). The effect of the external magnetic field on the forming, microstructure, and property of wire arc additively manufactured TC4 titanium alloy was studied in detail. The results showed that the height of the average deposition layer of EM-GMAW was less than that of GMAW and decreased with the increase of magnetic excitation current, and the width of the average deposition layer of EM-GMAW was greater than that of GMAW. The microstructure of the deposition layer consisted of fine α phase and coarse β grains. Compared with the traditional GMAW, the coarse β grain size in the EM-GMAW was reduced obviously. The maximum size of β grain was decreased by 100μm when the magnetic excitation current of 3A was used. In addition, the EM-GMAW tensile strength in the transverse and horizontal was increased by around 20 MPa and 100 MPa, respectively, compared with that of GMAW. Full article
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