Bo Song

Fabrication and Characterization of AISI 420 Stainless Steel Using Selective Laser Melting

Selective laser melting (SLM) offers great possibilities to fabricate metal tools with a complex geometry, but there are limitations regarding some materials. This work focuses on the fabrication of AISI 420 stainless steel using SLM for the application of plastic injection mold. The melt characteristic of the powders was firstly concluded, and then the microstructure, phase composition, and hardness were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Rockwell hardness test, respectively. The results showed that cellular microstructure was observed along the direction of the maximum heat flow. The proportion of the phases varies with the change of SLM processing parameters, which directly affects on the hardness of the parts. The relative density over 99% was obtained and the highest hardness presents 50.7 HRC, which meets the requirement of plastic injection molding application.

Microstructure and property evolutions of titanium/nano-hydroxyapatite composites in-situ prepared by selective laser melting

Titanium (Ti)-hydroxyapatite (HA) composites have the potential for orthopedic applications due to their favorable mechanical properties, excellent biocompatibility and bioactivity. In this work, the pure Ti and nano-scale HA (Ti-nHA) composites were in-situ prepared by selective laser melting (SLM) for the first time. The phase, microstructure, surface characteristic and mechanical properties of the SLM-processed Ti-nHA composites were studied by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, atomic force microscope and tensile tests, respectively. Results show that SLM is a suitable method for fabricating the Ti-nHA composites with refined microstructure, low modulus and high strength. A novel microstructure evolution can be illustrated as: Relatively long lath-shaped grains of pure Ti evolved into short acicular-shaped and quasi-continuous circle-shaped grains with the varying contents of nHA. The elastic modulus of the Ti-nHA composites is 3.7% higher than that of pure Ti due to the effect of grain refinement. With the addition of 2% nHA, the ultimate tensile strength significantly reduces to 289MPa but still meets the application requirement of bone implants. The Ti-nHA composites exhibit a remarkable improvement of microhardness from 336.2 to 600.8 HV and nanohardness from 5.6 to 8.3GPa, compared to those of pure Ti. Moreover, the microstructure and property evolution mechanisms of the composites with the addition of HA were discussed and analyzed. It provides some new knowledge to the design and fabrication of biomedical material composites for bone implant applications.

Microstructural Modification of Laser-Deposited High-Entropy CrFeCoNiMoWC Alloy by Friction Stir Processing: Nanograin Formation and Deformation Mechanism

Nanostructured CrFeCoNiMoWC high-entropy alloy layer was developed through laser-melting deposition and severe plastic deformation (SPD). The laser-deposited CrFeCoNiMoWC alloy consists of dendritic and subeutectic with a continuous network structure. After SPD, the laser-deposited microstructure with grain size 3 to 4xa0μm was transformed into nanostructure with grain size 5 to 100xa0nm and the continuous networks were crushed into dispersed nanoparticles. The new phases of WC and Co3W were presented in the plastic zone after SPD due to the worn debris of the SPD tool. More interestingly, amorphous phase was found in the plastic zone, owing to the high temperature, high hydrostatic pressure, and large shear stress. The refined microstructure resulted in the enhancement of microhardness and electrochemical corrosion property. Many nanotwins were detected in the plastic zone; thus, strengthening mechanisms were reasonably inferred as twinning strengthening, work hardening, dispersion strengthening, refinement strengthening, and dislocation strengthening. The Lomer–Cottrell lock, full dislocation interacting with a partial dislocation at the twinning boundary, and high density of dislocation at the twinning boundary, stacking fault, and grain boundary were observed, which account for the property enhancement of the nanocrystalline.

Effect of Tooling Material on the Internal Surface Quality of Ti6Al4V Parts Fabricated by Hot Isostatic Pressing

For the net-shape hot isostatic pressing (HIP) process, control of the internal surface roughness of as-HIPped parts remains a challenge for practical engineering. To reveal the evolution mechanism of the internal surface of the parts during the HIP process, the effect of different tooling materials (H13, T8, Cr12 steel, and graphite) as internal cores on the interfacial diffusion and surface roughness was systematically studied.