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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of remelting each layer on the homogeneity of nickel-titanium (NiTi) parts fabricated from elemental nickel and titanium powders using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). In addition, the influence of manufacturing parameters and different melting strategies, including multiple cycles of remelting, on printability and macro defects, such as pore and crack formation, have been investigated.

An LPBF process was used to manufacture NiTi alloy from elementally blended powders and was evaluated with the use of a remelting scanning strategy to improve the homogeneity of fabricated specimens. Furthermore, both single melt and up to two remeltings were used.

The results indicate that remelting can be beneficial for density improvement as well as chemical and phase composition homogenization. Backscattered electron mode in scanning electron microscope showed a reduction in the presence of unmixed Ni and Ti elemental powders in response to increasing the number of remelts. The microhardness values of NiTi parts for the different numbers of melts studied were similar and ranged from 487 to 495 HV. Nevertheless, it was observed that measurement error decreases as the number of remelts increases, suggesting an increase in chemical and phase composition homogeneity. However, X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the presence of multiple phases regardless of the number of melt runs.

For the first time, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, elementally blended NiTi powders were fabricated via LPBF using remelting scanning strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility of producing Cu-based shape memory alloys (SMA) by means of direct metal laser fabrication (DMLF).

The fabrication approach consists of the combination of laser melting of a metallic powder with heating treatment in a controlled inert atmosphere. Three prospective Cu-Al-Ni alloy compositions were tested, and the effects of laser power, as well as laser exposure time, were verified.

All the processed materials were found to attain microstructures and phase change transformation temperatures typical of this type of SMA.

Further development of this technique will allow for fabrication of large elements with considerable shape memory effect, which are currently not viable due to high cost of nitinol.

This work showed a proof of concept toward the development of DMLF-based additive manufacturing of near net shape components of Cu-based SMAs from elemental powders.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of particle size distribution, component ratio, particle packing arrangement, and chemical constitution on the laser sintering behaviour of blended hypoeutectic Al‐Si powders.

A range of bimodal and trimodal powder blends were created through mixing Al‐12Si and pure aluminium powder. The powder blends were then processed using selective laser sintering to investigate the effect of alloy composition, powder particle size and bed density on densification and microstructural evolution.

For all of the powder blends the sintered density increases with the specific laser energy input until a saturation level is reached. Beyond this saturation level no further increase in sintered density is obtained for an increase in specific laser energy input. However, the peak density achieved for a given blend varied significantly with the chemical constitution of the alloy, peaking at approximately 9 wt% Si. The tap density of the raw powder mixture (assumed to be representative of bed density) was also a significant factor.

This is the first study to consider the usefulness of silicon as an alloying element in aluminium alloys to be processed by selective laser sintering. In addition the paper outlines the key factors in optimising processing parameters and powder properties in order to attain sound sinterability for direct laser sintered parts.

The paper introduces a microwave and electrochemical-assisted method for synthesis of chlorine-derived iron phthalocyanine pigment and oxygen reduction reaction catalyst nanoparticles. The aims of this study are to investigate the possibility of nano-scale particle size (<35 nm), high-efficiency product reaction, remove acidic wastewater, time optimization and maximize number of chlorine on aromatic rings.

The paper presents a combined synthesis technique, which does not have the problems of the conventional methods. Chlorinated iron phthalocyanine nanoparticles have been fabricated using phthalic anhydride, urea (high purity), electrochemical-generated iron (II) cations and microwave irradiation as promoter. The approach yields a product of high quality, uniform particle size distribution and high efficiency and that was environment-friendly.

The particle size and time needed for the production of chlorinated iron phthalocyanine were about 35 nm and 7 min, respectively.

The catalyst, that is used in this method, should be weighed carefully. In addition, the solvent should be a saturated solution of NaCl in water.

The method provides a simple and practical solution to improving the synthesis of an iron-based catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction.

The combined method for synthesis of chlorinated iron phthalocyanine was novel and can find numerous applications in the industry, especially as an oxygen reduction reaction non-precious metal catalyst.

This paper aims to achieve Ti-6Al-4V from Ti, Al and V elemental powder blends using direct laser deposition (DLD) and to understand the effects of laser transverse speed and laser power on the initial fabrication of deposit’s microstructure and Vickers hardness.

Two sets of powder blends with different weight percentage ratio for three elemental powder were used during DLD process. Five experiments with different processing parameters were performed to evaluate how microstructure and Vickers hardness change with laser power and laser transverse speed. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, optical microscopy and Vickers hardness test were used to analyze deposits’ properties.

This paper reveals that significant variance of elemental powder’s size and density would cause lack of weight percentage of certain elements in final part and using multiple coaxial powder nozzles design would be a solution. Also, higher laser power or slower laser transverse speed tend to benefit the formation of finer microstructures and increase Vickers hardness.

This paper demonstrates a new method to fabricate Ti-6Al-4V and gives out a possible weight percentage ratio 87:7:6 for Ti:Al:V at powder blends during DLD process. The relationship between microstructure and Vickers hardness with laser power and laser transverse speed would provide valuable reference for people working on tailoring material properties using elemental powder method.

PROGRESS in the design of aerospace structures has necessitated the production of alloys that will enable the vehicle to have a long, trouble‐free life with all that this implies in favourable fatigue properties and corrosion resistance enhancement. Considerable advances have been made with particular reference to these areas in recent years and they can now be combined with the need for highly efficient strength properties. Conferences and exhibitions are helping to provide greater awareness of these developments and it is probably true to say that modern technology is enabling much more detailed analyses of structures to be made which will lead to better specifications and more efficient manufacture.

Lightweight, durable and economical materials production has gained considerable importance according to the needs of developing technology. The purpose of this paper is to develop an new aluminum alloy by powder metalurgy.

Powder metallurgy, which provides controllably on desired end product, method was applied. Aluminum alloy was created with Al, Zn, Mg, Cu powders and 1.5% Na2[B4O5(OH)4].8H2O added. It was pressed under high pressure and sintered at 600 °C under N2 gas atmosphere. Density, hardness behaviors and thermal properties were determined. Surfaces and crystal structures of samples were characterized.

The addition of borax made easier grains coming to together, acting as binders and the AlB2 crystal phase was formed. It was also observed that MgZn2, Al2CuMg phases were formed. In this way, the pores between the particles of the material were reduced from 35% to 5% total porosity and the hardness of the material was increased 29 N/mm2 to 45 N/mm2 (Brinell Hardness, HB). The surface properties improved and the hydrophobicity of the surface (from 63° to 102° contact angle with borax) increased. Thus, the heat transfer among atoms get easier and the borax addition decreased specific heat capacity and enthalpy of aluminum–borax samples. This situation was also simulated with the heat transfer module of COMSOL. As result, the energy required reduced. In the other word, sintering process occurred at low temperature and more efficient.

New aluminum alloy has been created from different amounts of Zn, Mg, Cu elemental powders. In addition to literature, relationship of borax and aluminum and other alloying elements on the mechanical, thermophysical and surface properties of new obtained aluminum alloy has been investigated.

This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in powder bed fusion (PBF) techniques for additive manufacturing of multiple materials. It reviews the emerging technologies in PBF multimaterial printing and summarizes the latest simulation approaches for modeling them. The topic of “multimaterial PBF techniques” is still very new, undeveloped, and of interest to academia and industry on many levels.

This is a review paper. The study approach was to carefully search for and investigate notable works and peer-reviewed publications concerning multimaterial three-dimensional printing using PBF techniques. The current methodologies, as well as their advantages and disadvantages, are cross-compared through a systematic review.

The results show that the development of multimaterial PBF techniques is still in its infancy as many fundamental “research” questions have yet to be addressed before production. Experimentation has many limitations and is costly; therefore, modeling and simulation can be very helpful and is, of course, possible; however, it is heavily dependent on the material data and computational power, so it needs further development in future studies.

This work investigates the multimaterial PBF techniques and discusses the novel printing methods with practical examples. Our literature survey revealed that the number of accounts on the predictive modeling of stresses and optimizing laser scan strategies in multimaterial PBF is low with a (very) limited range of applications. To facilitate future developments in this direction, the key information of the simulation efforts and the state-of-the-art computational models of multimaterial PBF are provided.

During the operation of nickel-based alloys as blades and discs in turbines, the sliding activity between metallic surfaces is subjected to structural and compositional changes. In as much as friction and wear are influenced by interacting surfaces, it is necessary to investigate these effects. This study aims to understand better the mechanical and tribological characteristics of Ni-17Cr-10X (X = Mo, W, Ta) ternary alloy systems developed via spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique.

Nickel-based ternary alloys were fabricated via SPS technique at 50 MPa, 1100 °C, 100 °C/min and a dwell time of 10 mins. Scanning electron microscopy, X-Ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, nanoindentation techniques and tribometer were used to assess the microstructure, phase composition, elemental dispersion, mechanical and tribological characteristics of the sintered nickel-based alloys.

The outcome of the investigation showed that the Ni-17Cr10Mo alloy exhibited the highest indentation hardness value of 8045 MPa, elastic modulus value of 386 GPa and wear resistance. At the same time, Ni-17Cr10W possessed the least mechanical and wear properties.

It can be shown that the SPS technique is efficient in the development of nickel-based alloys with good elemental distribution and without defects such as segregation of alloying elements, non-metallic inclusions. This is evident from the scanning electron microscopy micrographs.

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) in-situ alloying is a recently developed technology that provides a facile approach to optimizing the microstructural and compositional characteristics of the components for high performance goals. However, the complex mass and heat transfer behavior of the molten pool results in an inhomogeneous composition distribution within the samples fabricated by LPBF in-situ alloying. The study aims to investigate the heat and mass transfer behavior of an in-situ alloyed molten pool by developing a three-dimensional transient thermal-flow model that couples the metallurgical behavior of the alloy, thereby revealing the formation mechanism of composition inhomogeneity.

A multispecies multiphase computational fluid dynamic model was developed with thermodynamic factors derived from the phase diagram of the selected alloy system. The characteristics of the Al/Cu powder bed in-situ alloying process were investigated as a benchmark. The metallurgical behaviors including powder melting, thermal-flow, element transfer and solidification were investigated.

The Peclet number indicates that the mass transfer in the molten pool is dominated by convection. The large variation in material properties and temperature results in the presence of partially melted Cu-powder and pre-solidified particles in the molten pool, which further hinder the convection mixing. The study of simulation and experiment indicates that optimizing the laser energy input is beneficial for element homogenization. The effective time and driving force of the convection stirring can be improved by increasing the volume energy density.

This study provides an in-depth understanding of the formation mechanism of composition inhomogeneity in alloy fabricated by LPBF in-situ alloying.