Investigation of aging processes of Ti-6Al-4V powder material in laser melting

Laser melting of titanium material, e.g. Ti-6Al-4V, offers great potential in manufacturing automotive components, lightweight structures and medical implants. In order to achieve required mechanical properties of laser melted components quality of powder materials is essential. Unmelted powder is recycled and reused in a subsequent process. Due to repeated recycling it is suggested that powder material changes. In this paper aging processes of Ti-6Al-4V powder are studied. It was observed that powder particles coarsen and flowability increases. Comparing examined powder characteristics to bulk material properties it was noticed that there are significant effects of aged powder on laser melted components. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or review under responsibility of Bayerisches Laserzentrum GmbH