Microstructure-Properties Relationships of Ti-6Al-4V Parts Fabricated by Selective Laser Melting

This work investigates the relationships between the static mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V manufactured through selective laser melting (SLM) and post-process heat treatments, namely stress relieve, annealing and hot isostatic pressing (HIP). In particular, Ti-6Al-4V parts were fabricated in three different build orientations of X, Z, and 45 degrees to investigate the multi-directional mechanical properties. The results showed that fully densified Ti-6Al-4V parts with densities of up to 99.5% were obtained with optimized SLM parameters. The microstructure of stress relieved and mill annealed samples was dominated by fine alpha' martensitic needles. After HIP treatment, the martensite structure was fully transformed into alpha and beta phases (alpha+beta lamellar). Within the realm of tensile properties, the yield and ultimate strength values were found statistically similar with respect to the built orientation for a given heat treatment. However, the ductility was found orientation dependent for the HIP samples, where a lower value was observed for samples built in the X direction.