Titanium alloys are widely used in various engineering design application due to its superior material properties. The traditional manufacturing of titanium products is always difficult, time consuming, high material wastage and manufacturing costs. Selective laser melting (SLM), an additive manufacturing technology has widely gained attention due to its capability to produce near net shape components with less production time. In this technical paper, microstructure, chemical composition, tensile properties and hardness are studied for the wrought and additive manufactured SLM cylindrical bar. Microstructure, mechanical properties and hardness were studied in both the longitudinal and transverse directions of the bar to study the effect of orientation. It was found that additive manufactured bar have higher yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and hardness than the wrought bar. For both conventional and SLM test samples, the yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and hardness was found to be high in the transverse direction. The difference in the properties can be attributed to the difference in microstructure as a result of processing conditions. The tensile fracture area was quantified by careful examination of the fracture surfaces in the scanning electron microscope.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study and compare the mechanical properties and machinability characteristics of additive manufactured titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V with conventionally produced wrought titanium alloy,Ti-6Al-4V. The difference in mechanical properties such as yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, micro hardness, percentage of elongation and their effect on machinability characteristics like cutting forces and surface roughness are studied. It was found that higher strength and hardness of SLM Ti-6Al-4V compared to wrought Ti-6Al-4V owing to its peculiar acicular microstructure significantly affected the cutting forces and surface roughness. High cutting forces and low surface roughness were observed during machining of additive manufactured components compared to its wrought counterpart because of their difference in strength, hardness and ductility. Design/methodology/approach Mechanical properties like yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, hardness and percentage of elongation and machinability characteristics like cutting forces and surface roughness were studied for both wrought and additive manufactured Ti-6Al-4V. Findings Mechanical properties like yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and hardness were higher for additive manufactured components as compared to the wrought component. However additive manufactured components significantly lacked in ductility as compared to the wrought parts. Concerning machining, higher cutting forces and lower surface roughness were observed in additive manufactured Ti-6Al-4V compared to the wrought part as a result of differences in mechanical properties of these differently processed materials. Originality/value This paper, for the first time, discusses the machining capabilities of additive manufactured Ti-6Al-4V.

This research work presents a machinability study between wrought grade titanium and selective laser melted (SLM) titanium Ti6Al-4V in a face turning operation, machined at cutting speeds between 60 and 180 m/min. Machinability characteristics such as tool wear, cutting forces, and machined surface quality were investigated. Coating delamination, adhesion, abrasion, attrition, and chipping wear mechanisms were dominant during machining of SLM Ti-6Al-4V. Maximum flank wear was found higher in machining SLM Ti-6Al-4V compared to wrought Ti-6Al-4V at all speeds. It was also found that high machining speeds lead to catastrophic failure of the cutting tool during machining of SLM Ti-6Al-4V. Cutting force was higher in machining SLM Ti-6Al-4V as compared to wrought Ti-6Al-4V for all cutting speeds due to its higher strength and hardness. Surface finish improved with the cutting speed despite the high tool wear observed at high machining speeds. Overall, machinability of SLM Ti-6Al-4V was found poor as compared to the wrought alloy.