Machining of Additive Manufactured Metal Alloys

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing of metal alloys offers unique advantages for producing net-shape components of complex geometries with very little waste of material. Nevertheless, machining operations may be needed on functional surfaces to get the required surface finish and geometrical tolerances. This poses challenging issues since the microstructural features characterizing the AM alloys are drastically different from those of the wrought alloys of the same chemical composition, which, in turn, may affect the mechanical and machining response to a great extent. This paper shows that both the machined surface integrity and tool wear are greatly affected by the microstructural features induced by the previous AM process as well as by the build-up orientation.