In the present study, the methods of optical, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy as well as X-ray diffraction analysis gained insights into the mechanisms of surface finish and microstructure formation of Ti–6Al–4V parts during an EBF3-process. It was found that the slip band propagation within the outermost surface layer provided dissipation of the stored strain energy associated with martensitic transformations. The latter caused the lath fragmentation as well as precipitation of nanosized β grains and an orthorhombic martensite α″ phase at the secondary α lath boundaries of as-built Ti–6Al–4V parts. The effect of continuous electron beam post-treatment on the surface finish, microstructure, and mechanical properties of EBF3-fabricated Ti–6Al–4V parts was revealed. The brittle outermost surface layer of the EBF3-fabricated samples was melted upon the treatment, resulting in the formation of equiaxial prior β grains of 20 to 30 μm in size with the fragmented acicular α′ phase. Electron-beam irradiation induced transformations within the 70 μm thick molten surface layer and 500 μm thick heat affected zone significantly increased the Vickers microhardness and tensile strength of the EBF3-fabricated Ti–6Al–4V samples.
The inferior mechanical properties of EBAM Ti-6Al-4V samples are due to the coarse columnar grains containing coarse lamellar structures. One can expect that water cooling of the build platform will increase the cooling rate of the molten pool during the build-up process, causing microstructure refinement. In the present work, the substrate cooling effects on the microstructure and phase composition of EBAM Ti-6Al-4V samples are studied using optical, scanning electron, and scanning transmission microscopy, as well as X-ray diffraction analysis. It is shown that the microstructure of the EBAM Ti-6Al-4V samples built on the substrate without water cooling consists predominantly of columnar prior β grains with lateral sizes ranging up to 2000 µm, while cooling of the build platform causes the appearance of equiaxed prior β grains measuring 1000 µm. Moreover, the refinement of the martensite structure and the precipitation of α′′ martensite platelets within α laths occur in the EBAM Ti-6Al-4V samples built on the water-cooled build platform. An explanation of the mechanisms underlying the α′→α + β and α′→α + α′′ + β transformations during the building process is provided based upon ab initio calculations. The fragmentation of the α laths under the residual compressive stresses is discussed.
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