Engineering alloys for 3D printing

Abstract

The alloys used nowadays for metal-based additive manufacturing (AM) -colloquially termed 3D printing- are mostly based on compositions inherited from conventional production techniques. The strong anisotropy exhibited by alloys that solidify with cubic lattices (e.g. conventional compositions of Ni- or Ti-based alloys) represents a deep-rooted drawback during AM. The reason is that thermo-mechanical processing as implemented in traditional manufacturing for breaking up anisotropy, as well as controlling grain size and texture, is not considered in AM owing to the attractiveness of near net-shape fabrication. In this work, a phase transformation path opens up an alternative to avoid the typical coarse anisotropic microstructures obtained upon AM of titanium alloys and provides new windows for alloy design of other metallic systems.