Additive manufacturing: Characterization of TI-6AI-4V alloy intended for biomedical application

Abstract

Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) is one of the new Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM) techniques used for producing complex topology components mostly found in medical applications. The work presented in this paper focuses on metallographic analyses of laser sintered Ti-6Al-4V samples. The samples were built by DMLS process from EOSINT Ti-6Al-4V powder. They were then heat treated at temperatures of 1000 and 1100°C and subsequently either cooled with the furnace or water quenched. Slow cooling of Ti-6Al-4V samples from 1000 and 1100°C resulted in a microstructure constituted more by the alpha phase of lower hardness than the laser- sintered material. High hardness was obtained by water quenching. The water quenched evidenced martensitic transformation and high hardness when compared to furnace cooled sample.