Structure Formation of Composite Material Based on Ferrite-Pearlite Steel and Aluminum Bronze Produced by Wire-Feed Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing

The features of structure formation and properties of bronze-steel composite samples formed by wire-feed electron beam additive manufacturing are studied. The studies show that at the bronze-to-steel ratio of 1:1 quite homogeneous structure is formed in them, with dendritic steel fragments and bronze filling the interdendritic space. When fabricated at the optimum process parameters, the samples do not contain any pores, inclusions, discontinuities or delamination. The strength characteristics of the resulting composites significantly exceed those of the base pure bronze. The mechanical properties of the samples are very similar in the compression and build direction. The yield strength values, calculated based on the contributions from different phases, differ from the measured values by up to 20%.