Extrusion-Based Additive Manufacturing of the Ti6Al4V Alloy Parts

Abstract

The paper shows the possibility of synthesizing microparticles coated with nanoparticles by electric explosion of a wire made of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Particles in which the core is a microparticle and the shell of a nanoparticle can provide effective sliding of the microparticles relative to each other and are promising for obtaining flowable metal-polymer compositions filled with powder up to 70 vol.%. Such compositions are promising feedstocks for the additive molding of complex metal parts, for example, customized implants from the Ti-6Al-4V alloy, by material extrusion. The article describes the properties of feedstock based on micro- and nanoparticles of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy, the microstructure and some mechanical properties of sintered samples. The structure, bending strength and Vickers hardness of additively formed samples sintered at a temperature of 1200 °C was investigated.