Journal of Ultrafine Grained and Nanostructured Materials

Journal of Ultrafine Grained and Nanostructured Materials

Effect of In-Situ Alloying with Si on the Microstructure of a Novel Ti-5Cu Alloy Manufactured by Laser Powder Bed Fusion

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Mohammad Talebi 1
Ahmad razaghian 1
Behzad Niroumand 2
Abdollah Saboori 3
1 Department of Materials Engineering, Imam Khomeini International University (IKIU), Qazvin, 3414896818, Iran
2 Department of Materials Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), Isfahan, 8415683111, Iran
3 Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, 10129, Italy
10.22059/jufgnsm.2025.01.05
Abstract
The present work aims to explore the influence of Si addition on the microstructure of a novel Ti-5Cu alloy produced by the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) technique, under an in-situ alloying strategy. For this purpose, Ti–5Cu and Ti–5Cu–1Si samples were manufactured under the same volumetric energy density (VED), i.e., 50.26 J/mm³. The findings revealed that incorporating 1 wt% Si into the Ti-5Cu alloy converted the prior β columnar and equiaxed grains with an average size of 41 μm and 22 μm, respectively, to finer equiaxed prior β grains within the Ti-5Cu-1Si microstructure, which featured with an average size of about 8 μm. Greater tendency for columnar to equiaxed transition and a notable grain refinement with Si addition were linked to a greater constitutional supercooling zone created by the rejection of Si solute atoms in front of the solidification front. Comparison of the solidification ranges for Ti-5wt%Cu and Ti-1wt%Si alloys plotted by PANDAT software revealed that Si has a more severe impact on the solidification range than Cu, making it a potentially better option for inducing columnar to equiaxed transition. Incorporating 1% Si to the Ti-5Cu alloy increased the growth restriction factor from 35 to 60 K, resulting in an almost 3-fold reduction in grain size. Addition of Si to the Ti-5Cu alloy also significantly refined the average length of α lath from about 4 μm to about 1.7 μm in the microstructure of Ti–Cu–Si alloys.
Keywords
Additive Manufacturing
Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF)
Ti-5Cu-1Si alloy
Columnar to Equiaxed Transition
Growth Restriction Factor
  1. Herzog. D, Seyda V, Wycisk E, Emmelmann C, Additive Manufacturing of Metals, Acta Mater. 2016; 117 (1): 371–392.
  2. Collins PC, Brice DA, Samimi P, Ghamarian I, Fraser HL. Mi­crostructural Control of Additively Manufactured Metallic Ma­terials. Annual Review of Materials Research. 2016;46(1):63-91.
  3. M. Dadkhah, M.H. Mosallanejad, L. Iuliano, A. Saboori, A comprehensive overview on the latest progress in the additive manufacturing of metal matrix composites: potential, challenges, and feasible solutions, Acta Metall. Sin. (Engl. Lett. 34 (2021) 1173–1200.
  4. M. S. Safavi, A. Azarniya, M. F. Ahmadipour, M. V. Reddy, New-emerging approach for fabrication of near net shape aluminum matrix composites/nanocomposites: Ultrasonic additive manufacturing, Journal of Ultrafine Grained and Nanostructured Materials, 2019;52:188–196.
  5. A. Saboori, D. Gallo, S. Biamino, P. Fino, M. Lombardi, An overview of additive manufacturing of titanium components by directed energy deposition: microstructure and mechanical properties, Appl. Sci. (2017).
  6. Talebi. M, Niroumand B, Razaghian A, Saboori A, Iuliano L, Process-induced microstructural variations in laser powder bed fusion of novel titanium alloys: A comprehensive study on volumetric energy density and alloying effects, Journal of Materials Research and Technology 2024;31:1430–1442.
  7. A. Saboori, A. Abdi, S.A. Fatemi, G. Marchese, S. Biamino, H. Mirzadeh, Hot deformation behavior and flow stress modeling of Ti–6Al–4V alloy produced via electron beam melting additive manufacturing technology in single β-phase field, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 792 (2020), 139822.
  8. J. Gholamzadeh, S.M. Fatemi, N. Mollaei, A. Abedi, Processing of Ultrafine/nano-grained microstructures through additive manufacturing techniques: a critical review, Journal of Ultrafine Grained and Nanostructured Materials, 2024;57:203–221.
  9. M. J. Bermingham, D. H, StJohn, b. J. Krynen, S. Ted­man-Jones, M. S. Dargusch, Promoting the columnar to equi­axed transition and grain refinement of titanium alloys during additive manufacturing, Acta Mater., 168, 2019, 261–274.
  10. Zhang D, Qiu D, Gibson MA, Zheng Y, Fraser HL, StJohn DH, Easton MA. Additive manufacturing of ultrafine-grained high-strength titanium alloys. Nature. 2019;576(7785):91-5.
  11. Mantri SA, Alam T, Choudhuri D, Yannetta CJ, Mikler CV, Collins PC, Banerjee R. The effect of boron on the grain size and texture in additively manufactured β-Ti alloys. Journal of Materials Science. 2017;52(20):12455-66.
  12. Mosallanejad MH, Niroumand B, Ghibaudo C, Biamino S, Salmi A, Fino P, Saboori A. In-situ alloying of a fine grained fully equiaxed Ti-based alloy via electron beam powder bed fu­sion additive manufacturing process. Additive Manufacturing. 2022;56:102878.
  13. Mereddy S, Bermingham MJ, StJohn DH, Dargusch MS. Grain refinement of wire arc additively manufactured titaniumby the addition of silicon. Journal of Alloys and Compounds. 2017;695:2097-103.
  14. StJohn DH, Qian M, Easton MA, Cao P. The Interdepen­dence Theory: The relationship between grain formation and nucleant selection. Acta Materialia. 2011;59(12):4907-21.
  15. Mosallanejad MH, Niroumand B, Aversa A, Saboori A. In-situ alloying in laser-based additive manufacturing pro­cesses: A critical review. Journal of Alloys and Compounds. 2021;872:159567.
  16. M.H. Mosallanejad, B. Niroumand, A. Aversa, D. Manfredi, A. Saboori, Laser Powder Bed Fusion in-situ alloying of Ti-5%Cu alloy: process-structure relationships, J. Alloy. Compd. 857 (2021), 157558.
  17. Yadroitsev I, Krakhmalev P, Yadroitsava I. Titanium Alloys Manufactured by In Situ Alloying During Laser Powder Bed Fu­sion. JOM. 2017;69(12):2725-30.
  18. Krakhmalev P, Yadroitsev I, Yadroitsava I, de Smidt O. Func­tionalization of Biomedical Ti6Al4V via In Situ Alloying by Cu during Laser Powder Bed Fusion Manufacturing. Materials (Ba­sel). 2017;10(10):1154.
  19. Vilardell AM, Yadroitsev I, Yadroitsava I, Krakhmalev P, Kouprianoff D, Kothleitner G, et al. Manufacturing and characterization of in-situ alloyed Ti6Al4V (ELI)-3 at.% Cu by Laser powder bed fusion. Addit Manuf 2020;36:1–29.
  20. C.D. Boley, S.A. Khairallah, A.M. Rubenchik, Calculation of laser absorption by metal powders in additive manufacturing, Appl. Opt. 54 (2015) 2477–2482.
  21. J.J. Valencia, P.N. Quested, Thermophysical Properties Sources and Availability of Reliable Data, ASM, 2008.
  22. A. M. Vilardell, A. Takezawa, A. du Plessis, N. Takata, P. Krakhmalev, M. Kobashi, M. Albu, G. Kothleitner, I. Yadroitsava, I. Yadroitsev, Mechanical behavior of in-situ alloyed Ti6Al4V(ELI)-3 at.% Cu lattice structures manufactured by laser powder bed fusion and designed for implant applications, J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater. 113, 2021, 104130.
  23. A. M. Vilardell, V. C. Alzamora, L. V. Bauso, C. Madrid, P. Krakhmalev, M. Albu, I. Yadroitsava, I. Yadroitsev, N. G. Giralt, Effect of Heat Treatment on Osteoblast Performance and Bactericidal Behavior of Ti6Al4V(ELI)-3at.%Cu Fabricated by Laser Powder Bed Fusion, J. Func Biomatt, Vol. 14, pp. 2 – 19, 2023.
  24. X. Xu, Y. Lu, S. Li, S. Guo, M. He, K. Luo, J. Lin, Copper-modified Ti6Al4V alloy fabricated by selective laser melting with pro-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory properties for potential guided bone regeneration applications, Mater. Sci. Eng. C., 90, 2018, 198–210.
  25. Wang X, Chen L Y, Sun H, Zhang L, Corrosion behavior and mechanisms of the heat-treated Ti5Cu produced by laser powder bed fusion, Corrosion Science, 2023; 221: 111336.
  26. D. Gu, Y. C. Hagedorn, W. Meiners, G. Meng, R.J.S. Batista, K. Wissenbach, R. Poprawe, Densification behavior, microstructure evolution, and wear performance of selective laser melting processed commercially pure titanium, Acta Mater. 60, 2012, 3849–3860.
  27. Li L, Chen Y, Lu Y, Qin S, Huang G, Huang T, Lin J. Effect of heat treatment on the corrosion resistance of selective laser melted Ti6Al4V3Cu alloy. Journal of Materials Research and Technology. 2021;12:904-15.
  28. Talebi M, Razaghian A, Saboori A, Niroumand B, Effects of Cu addition and heat treatment on the microstructure and hardness of pure Ti prepared by Selective laser melting (SLM), Journal of Ultrafine Grained and Nanostructured Materials, 2023;56:213–223.
  29. Liu S, Shin YC. Additive manufacturing of Ti6Al4V alloy: a review. Mater Des 2019;164:107552.
  30. Schmid-Fetzer R, Kozlov A. Thermodynamic aspects of grain growth restriction in multicomponent alloy solidification. Acta Materialia. 2011;59(15):6133-44.

31.M. Sun, D.H. StJohn, M.A. Easton, K. Wang, and J. Ni, Effect of cooling rate on the grain refinement of Mg-Y-Zr alloys, Metall. Mater. Trans. A, Vol. 51, pp. 482 – 496, 2019.

  1. B. B. Welk, N. Taylor, J. Wang, K. Kloenne, k. J. Chaput, S. Fox, H. L. Fraser, Use of alloying to effect an equiaxed microstructure in additive manufacturing and subsequent heat treatment of high-strength titanium alloys, Metall. Mater. Trans. A, 52, 2021, 5367–5380.
  2. Xue A, Lin X, Wang L, Wang J, Huang W. Influence of trace boron addition on microstructure, tensile prop­erties and their anisotropy of Ti6Al4V fabricated by la­ser directed energy deposition. Materials & Design. 2019;181:107943.
  3. Zhang K, Tian X, Bermingham M, Rao J, Jia Q, Zhu Y, et al. Effects of boron addition on microstructures and mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V manufactured by direct laser deposi­tion. Materials & Design. 2019;184:108191.
  4. R. Liu, K. Memarzadeh, B. Chang, Y. Zhang, Z. Ma, R.P. Allaker, L. Ren, K. Yang, Antibacterial effect of copper-bearing titanium alloy (Ti-Cu) against Streptococcus mutans and Porphyromonas gingivalis, Sci Rep. 6(2016) 29985.
  5. C. Peng, Y. Liu, H. Liu, S. Zhang, C. Bai, Y. Wan, L. Ren, K. Yang, Optimization of annealing treatment and comprehensive properties of Cu-containing Ti6Al4V-xCu alloys, J. Mater. Sci. Technol. 35 (2019) 2121–2131.
Journal of Ultrafine Grained and Nanostructured Materials
Volume 58, Issue 1
June 2025
Pages 45-54

  • Receive Date 11 April 2025
  • Revise Date 22 April 2025
  • Accept Date 24 April 2025