Effect of additive manufacturing process parameters on the titanium alloy microstructure, properties and surface integrity

Damage initiation and propagation are widely impacted by pores distribution induced during additive manufacturing (AM) processes. More specifically, the porosity can strongly affect the thermomechanical behavior of titanium alloys in the case of Selective Laser Melting (SLM). The present work examined the impact of SLM process parameters on microstructure characteristics, mechanical properties, and surface integrity of the Ti6Al4V titanium alloy. Different metallographic analyses (i.e., Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)), density measurement and surface characterizing were carried out to investigate the effect of various process parameters (laser power and scanning speed) on the damage behaviors in terms of fracture surface and cracks initiation sites of the alloy.