Characterisation of additively manufactured titanium wall: Mechanical and microstructural aspects

Abstract

Titanium is as strong as steel with less density. Therefore, titanium and its alloys are used in several engineering applications. The primary benefits of using titanium alloys in the production of high-performance components include their light weight, superior tensile strength and exceptional corrosion resistance. Titanium alloys have the capacity to keep their characteristics even at high temperatures. Because of their low density and capacity to withstand temperature extremes, these alloys are mostly utilised in airplanes, spacecraft and missiles. Many of the initiatives to save costs in the production of titanium components are based on additive manufacturing. This study aims to provide preliminary insight into the microstructural and mechanical behaviour of commercially pure grade-2 titanium (CP-Gr-2-Ti) structured wall fabricated by gas tungsten arc welding assisted layer-by-layer manufacturing (GTAW-assisted-LM). Ideal process variables were selected through the trial-and-error method. The vacuum chamber was used during fabrication to ensure that the wall was free of contamination. The anisotropy in the LM processed wall is studied with different orientations of tensile samples. The variation in the microstructure observed in LM processed wall was due to varying complex thermal cycles. The phase texture and grain nature of the wall was studied using pole figures and inverse pole figures. The LM-processed wall exhibits better mechanical properties compared to wrought alloys. The fractography revealed several morphologies indicating that the fractured samples were ductile. Hence, a piece of first-hand information and experience is gained in this research work.