Metal-based additive manufacturing (AM) permits layer-by-layer fabrication of near net-shaped metallic components with complex geometries not achievable using the design constraints of traditional manufacturing. Production savings of titanium-based components by AM are estimated up to 50% owing to the current exorbitant loss of material during machining. Nowadays, most of the titanium alloys for AM are based on conventional compositions still tailored to conventional manufacturing not considering the directional thermal gradient that provokes epitaxial growth during AM. This results in severely textured microstructures associated with anisotropic structural properties usually remaining upon post-AM processing. The present investigations reveal a promising solidification and cooling path for α formation not yet exploited, in which α does not inherit the usual crystallographic orientation relationship with the parent β phase. The associated decrease in anisotropy, accompanied by the formation of equiaxed microstructures represents a step forward toward a next generation of titanium alloys for AM.

Selective laser melting is a promising powder-bed-based additive manufacturing technique for titanium alloys: near net-shaped metallic components can be produced with high resource-efficiency and cost savings

The contour scan strategies in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of Ti-6Al-4V were studied at the coupon level. These scan strategies determined the surface qualities and subsurface residual stresses. The correlations to these properties were identified for an optimization of the LPBF processing. The surface roughness and the residual stresses in build direction were linked: combining high laser power and high scan velocities with at least two contour lines substantially reduced the surface roughness, expressed by the arithmetic mean height, from values as high as 30 µm to 13 µm, while the residual stresses rose from ~340 to about 800 MPa. At this stress level, manufactured rocket fuel injector components evidenced macroscopic cracking. A scan strategy completing the contour region at 100 W and 1050 mm/s is recommended as a compromise between residual stresses (625 MPa) and surface quality (14.2 µm). The LPBF builds were monitored with an in-line twin-photodiode-based melt pool monitoring (MPM) system, which revealed a correlation between the intensity quotient I₂/I₁, the surface roughness, and the residual stresses. Thus, this MPM system can provide a predictive estimate of the surface quality of the samples and resulting residual stresses in the material generated during LPBF.

The grain size is a determinant microstructural feature to enable the activation of deformation twinning in hexagonal close‐packed (hcp) metals. Although deformation twinning is one of the most effective mechanisms for improving the strength–ductility trade‐off of structural alloys, its activation is reduced with decreasing grain size. This work reports the discovery of the activation of deformation twinning in a fine‐grained hcp microstructure by introducing ductile body‐centered cubic (bcc) nano‐layer interfaces. The fast solidification and cooling conditions of laser‐based additive manufacturing are exploited to obtain a fine microstructure that, coupled with an intensified intrinsic heat treatment, permits to generate the bcc nano‐layers. In situ high‐energy synchrotron X‐ray diffraction allows tracking the activation and evolution of mechanical twinning in real‐time. The findings obtained show the potential of ductile nano‐layering for the novel design of hcp damage tolerant materials with improved life spans.