Review of Mechanical Properties of Ti-6Al-4V Made by Laser-Based Additive Manufacturing Using Powder Feedstock

Laser-based additive manufacturing (AM) of metals using powder feedstock can be accomplished via two broadly defined technologies: directed energy deposition (DED) and powder bed fusion (PBF). In these processes, metallic powder is delivered to a location and locally melted with a laser heat source. Upon deposition, the material undergoes a rapid cooling and solidification, and as subsequent layers are added to the component, the material within the component is subjected to rapid thermal cycles. In order to adopt AM for the building of structural components, a thorough understanding of the relationships among the complex thermal cycles seen in AM, the unique heterogeneous and anisotropic microstructure, and the mechanical properties must be developed. Researchers have fabricated components by both DED and PBF from the widely used titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V and studied the resultant microstructure and mechanical properties. This review article discusses the progress to date on investigating the as-deposited and heat-treated microstructures and mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V structures made by powder-based laser AM using DED and PBF.