Fabrication of ultra-low-cost pure Ti by selective laser melting using the mixed powders of hydride-dehydride titanium powders treated by ball milling and spherical powders

ABSTRACT

Selective laser melting (SLM) currently uses the micro-fine spherical powder prepared by gas atomisation as a raw material. However, the spherical powder is expensive. In order to reduce the cost, this study first ball mills the pure titanium (CP-Ti) powder of hydrogenation-dehydrogenation (HDH). At a high speed and within a short period, the particle size distribution of the powder at a high rotation speed for 15 min is 12–45 μm with an angle of repose 34.3°. Then, the ball milling of titanium was mixed spherical powder with a wide grain size range up to 100 μm. This study presents the results of using SLM to produce CP-Ti parts starting from powder with mixed powder, in a different ratio between modified powder and spherical powder. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of SLM-parts of 8:2 ratio has been improved to 507 MPa, and the UTS of parts of 7:3 ratio has been improved to 522 MPa.

KEYWORDS:

• Selective laser melting
• hydrogenation-dehydrogenation (HDH)
• ball milling
• mechanical properties

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Xin Yang holds a PhD in materials science from Central South University and is an associate professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology. His current research interests include titanium alloys, powder metallurgy, metal additive manufacturing, and surface treatment.

Zhaoyang Zhang is a graduate student at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology. His current research focuses on selective laser melting of Titanium alloys.

Wenping Gu holds a PhD in microelectronics and solid state electronics from Xidian University and is an associate professor in the School of Electronic and Control Engineering, Chang'an University. Her current research interests include semiconductor devices and circuits, application of big data in semiconductor devices, and electronic engineering 3D printing application.

Ben Wang is a graduate student at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology. His current research focuses on selective laser melting of Tantalum alloys.

Yazhuo Fan holds PhD in materials physics and chemistry from Xiamen University. He is a researcher and senior engineer in Panzhihua Iron and Steel Research Institute Co., Ltd., Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group. His current research interests include titanium metallurgy and metal additive manufacturing.

Qingdong Miao holds master degree in chemical engineering from Kunming University of Science and Technology. He is a researcher and senior engineer in Panzhihua Iron and Steel Research Institute Co., Ltd., Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group. His current research interests include titanium metallurgy and metal additive manufacturing.

Sanchao Zhao holds master degree in metallurgical engineering from Northeastern University. He is a researcher and senior engineer in Panzhihua Iron and Steel Research Institute Co., Ltd., Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group. His current research interests include titanium metallurgy and metal additive manufacturing.

Bo Xie holds master degree in materials science from Kunming University of Science and Technology. He is a associate researcher and engineer in Panzhihua Iron and Steel Research Institute Co., Ltd., Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group. His current research interests include titanium powder metallurgy and metal additive manufacturing.

Additional information

Funding

This work was sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 51671152, 51874225, and 51504191), Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (Grant no. 2020JQ-341) and the open project funded by the State Key Laboratory of Comprehensive Utilization of Vanadium and Titanium Resources.