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Additive Manufacturing of Metals and Alloys: Recent Advances and Challenges

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Metals and Alloys".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2024 | Viewed by 3019

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Fanghui Jia

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Guest Editor

School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
Interests: manufacturing engineering; materials engineering; composite materials; microforming;

Dr. Fei Lin

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Guest Editor

School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
Interests: materials characterization; advanced manufacturing; composites design; micro manufacturing

Dr. Yao Lu

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Guest Editor

Welding and Additive Manufacturing Centre, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK
Interests: additive manufacturing; material process and design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Jun Wang

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Guest Editor

Welding and Additive Manufacturing Centre, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK
Interests: shape memory alloys; in situ alloying; wire-based direct energy deposition; microstructure and mechanical analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an important manufacturing strategy in Industry 4.0. Compared with traditional manufacturing and processing methods of metallic products, AM exhibits huge advantages in terms of more flexible geometrical shapes, higher efficiency, better performances, less waste, and carbon emission. A wide range of applicable materials provides potentials that AM can flexibly realize stringent requirements of different fields and industries, such as vehicles, aerocraft, spacecraft, marine engineering, nuclear power, medical treatment, and defence.

Nowadays, widely used AM techniques for preparing metals and alloys mainly include two types, direct energy deposition (DED) and powder bed fusion (PBF). Specific approaches of DED and PBF are diversified, involving laser-melting deposition (LMD), laser-based metal wire deposition (LMWD), wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), electron beam melting (EBM), selective laser melting (SLM), hybrid additive manufacturing (HAM), etc. The metals and alloys used in AM can be different according to the requirements of performances, and they might be steels, titanium (Ti) alloys, aluminium (Al) alloys, nickel (Ni) alloys, multiple principal element alloys (MPEAs) and metal matrix composites (MMCs).

This Special Issue aims to cover the latest progress in the field of additive manufacturing of metals and alloys, including the preparation process, microstructure characterization, properties evaluation, and advanced applications. Submissions of original research articles, reviews, and short communications related to the subject are welcome.

Dr. Fanghui Jia
Dr. Fei Lin
Dr. Yao Lu
Dr. Jun Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

additive manufacturing
metals and alloys
materials design
microstructure characterization
mechanical properties
functional properties
manufacturing processes
preparation and application

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 48658 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Achieving Equiaxed Transition and Excellent Mechanical Properties in a Novel Near-β Titanium Alloy by Regulating the Volume Energy Density of Selective Laser Melting

by Xiaofei Li, Huanhuan Cheng, Chengcheng Shi, Rui Liu, Ruyue Wang and Chuan Yang

Materials 2024, 17(11), 2631; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma17112631 - 29 May 2024

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Abstract

This research investigated the relationship between volume energy density and the microstructure, density, and mechanical properties of the Ti-5Al-5Mo-3V-1Cr-1Fe alloy fabricated via the SLM process. The results indicate that an increase in volume energy density can promote a transition from a columnar to an equiaxed grain structure and suppress the anisotropy of mechanical properties. Specifically, at a volume energy density of 83.33 J/mm³, the average aspect ratio of β grains reached 0.77, accompanied by the formation of numerous nano-precipitated phases. Furthermore, the relative density of the alloy initially increased and then decreased as the volume energy density increased. At a volume energy density of 83.33 J/mm³, the relative density reached 99.6%. It is noteworthy that an increase in volume energy density increases the β grain size. Consequently, with a volume energy density of 83.33 J/mm³, the alloy exhibited an average grain size of 63.92 μm, demonstrating optimal performance with a yield strength of 1003.06 MPa and an elongation of 18.16%. This is mainly attributable to the fact that an increase in volume energy density enhances thermal convection within the molten pool, leading to alterations in molten pool morphology and a reduction in temperature gradients within the alloy. The reduction in temperature gradients promotes equiaxed grain transformation and grain refinement by increasing constitutive supercooling at the leading edge of the solid–liquid interface. The evolution of molten pool morphology mainly inhibits columnar grain growth and refines grain by changing the grain growth direction. This study provided a straightforward method for inhibiting anisotropy and enhancing mechanical properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Additive Manufacturing of Metals and Alloys: Recent Advances and Challenges)

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18 pages, 11454 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Grain Orientation on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of FeCoCrNi High-Entropy Alloy Produced via Laser Melting Deposition

by Fuyu Ge, Shuai Liu, Xin Zhang, Mengdie Shan, Cheng Peng, Fanghui Jia, Jian Han and Yangchuan Cai

Materials 2023, 16(17), 5963; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16175963 - 31 Aug 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1008

Abstract

The long, straight grain boundary of the high-entropy alloy (HEA) produced via laser melting deposition (LMD) is prone to cracking due to unidirectional scanning (single wall). To enhance the competitive growth of columnar grains and improve the overall performance of the alloy, a vertical cross scanning method was employed to fabricate FeCoCrNi HEA (bulk). The influence of grain orientation on the microstructure and mechanical properties of FeCoCrNi-LMD was systematically investigated. Microhardness tests and tensile tests were conducted to assess the mechanical property differences between the single-wall and bulk samples. This study shows that using a single scanning strategy results in monolayer wall grains sized at 129.40 μm, with a max texture strength of 21.29. Employing orthogonal scanning yields 61.15 μm block-like grains with a max texture strength of 11.12. Dislocation densities are 1.084 × 10¹² m⁻² and 1.156 × 10¹² m⁻², with average Schmid factors of 0.471 and 0.416. In comparison to the FeCoCrNi-LMD single wall, the bulk material produced through cross-layer orthogonal scanning exhibited reduced residual stress, weakened anisotropy, and improved mechanical properties. These findings are expected to enhance the potential applications of FeCoCrNi-LMD in various industries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Additive Manufacturing of Metals and Alloys: Recent Advances and Challenges)

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Review

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29 pages, 13467 KiB

Open AccessReview

Mechanical Properties of Bulk Metallic Glasses Additively Manufactured by Laser Powder Bed Fusion: A Review

by Haojie Luo and Yulei Du

Materials 2023, 16(21), 7034; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16217034 - 3 Nov 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1048

Abstract

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) display excellent strength, high hardness, exceptional wear resistance and corrosion resistance owing to its amorphous structure. However, the manufacturing of large-sized and complex shaped BMG parts faces significant difficulties, which seriously hinders their applications. Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a typical additive manufacturing (AM) technique with a cooling rate of up to 10⁸ K/s, which not only allows for the formation of amorphous structures but also solves the forming problem of complex-shaped BMG parts. In recent years, a large amount of work has been carried out on the LPBF processing of BMGs. This review mainly summarizes the latest progress in the field of LPBF additively manufactured BMGs focusing on their mechanical properties. We first briefly review the BMG alloy systems that have been additively manufactured using LPBF, then the mechanical properties of LPBF-fabricated BMGs including the micro- and nano-hardness, micropillar compressive performance, and macro-compressive and tensile performance are clarified. Next, the relationship between the mechanical properties and microstructure of BMGs produced via LPBF are analyzed. Finally, the measures for improving the mechanical properties of LPBF-fabricated BMGs are discussed. This review can provide readers with an essential comprehension of the structural and mechanical properties of LPBF-manufactured BMGs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Additive Manufacturing of Metals and Alloys: Recent Advances and Challenges)

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