ABSTRACT
Additive production (AM) is used to optimize the production process, in particular, for the manufacture of parts with complex geometries. Among the various AM techniques, Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is one of the most used. Several alloys can be used in this type of manufacturing process. The Ti6Al4V alloy is widely used to bring together a range of characteristics that allow application in different areas. The Ti α + β alloys are widely used in the aerospace industry, medical and dental fields. The rapid cooling from melting/remelting multiple cycles resulting in diffusionless phase transformation on the Ti6Al4V SLM product, in other words promote the α’ martensitic phase formation. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the influence on the microstructure of the annealing post-treatments (850 and 1050 ºC for 90 min with cooling on furnace) of the Ti6Al4V alloy processed by SLM. The microstructure of the alloy was characterized by optical (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) using a secondary electron (SE) detector, as well as the compositional evolution of the phases present by X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results demonstrated that heat treatment at 850 ºC (with soaking on the intercritical zone) did not promote significant reversion of the α’ martensite and the microstructure composed of α’ + β remained very close to that processed in SLM, as well as the elemental composition of the phases did not change. On the other hand, with heat treatment at 1050 ºC (with soaking on the β phase stability field) the complete reversion of the α’ martensite was verified, due to post-cooling only the α + β phases were observed, in addition to the V solute partition due to its enrichment in the β phase and subsequent impoverishment in the α phase.
Keywords:
Additive manufacturing; Selective laser melting; Ti6Al4V; α’ martensite
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