Influence of machine parameters on Ti-6-Al-4V small sized specimens made by laser metal deposition
Résumé
The present work is focused on one Additive Manufacturing (AM) process – Laser powder Metal Deposition (LMD-p) – and on one metallic alloy – Ti-6Al-4V. State of the art on LMD-p on Ti-6Al-4V alloy shows that three kinds of process parameters influence mechanical properties of building parts: raw materials (powder and substrate), machine parameters (Laser Power (P), Powder Flow (F) and Building Speed (V)), and building strategies (part orientation, waiting time between layers, etc.). Thus, this paper relates to first manufacturing investigations on small sized specimens (bead, wall and block) with the aim of providing a better knowledge about the first steps of manufacturing. Particularly, this paper is dedicated to the study of machine parameters (P, F and V).
First, the influence of each machine parameter on 28 beads is studied separately. The geometrical aspect (high, width, dilution) of each bead is microscopically measured. Similarly, combinations of parameters (P/F, Energy Density and Powder Density) are introduced to increase parameters degree of freedom. First results show that P, V and F have a major influence on the beads’ geometry. In addition, a window process map is plotted and allows determining functional areas of machine parameters. From this map, walls (vertical superposition of one bead) are manufactured and microscopically observed. Functional sets of parameters from walls are selected and blocks can be built.