MICROSTRUCTURE, HARDNESS AND SURFACE ROUGHNESS CHARACTERIZATION OF EBM FABRICATED Ti-6Al-4V SAMPLES

Electron beam melting (EBM) is among the modern additive manufacturing processes whereby metal powders are selectively melted to produce very complicated components with superior mechanical properties. In this study, microstructure, hardness, and surface roughness of EBM fabricated Ti6Al4V samples were characterized. The results showed that the microstructure consisted of epitaxially-grown primary columnar β phase transformed to basketweave and Widmanstatten-type α phase during the subsequent rapid cooling. Martensitic needle-type α phase was also observed on the surfaces of the specimens. It was shown that higher parts of the sample had finer microstructures than the lower parts reaching to less than 340 nm in average thickness of the α layers due to distancing from the hot build platform rendering less opportunity for diffusional β → α+β transformation. The porosity content of the samples was lower than that of some other additive manufacturing processes. Vickers micro-hardness of the samples was measured to be around 337 HV which was higher than those reported for other additive manufacturing processes of the alloy.