Research on microstructure and mechanical properties of laser direct deposited Ti-6Al-4V alloy

Laser direct deposition of metallic components is a combining technology of CAD/CAM, high power laser, and rapid prototyping. Laser melting the powders coaxially fed can fabricate fully dense metallic components. This paper reports on laser direct deposition of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy. The microstructure and the appearance of laser melting pool for single cladding and multiple cladding under different laser power are observed, the basic mechanical properties are obtained by tensile test. The results indicate that the as-deposited parts are fully dense with rapidly solidified microstructure. The mechanical properties are equivalent to that for casting and wrought annealed materials, and can meet the requirement for real usage.