Additive Manufacturing in Titanium Alloys

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING IN TITANIUM ALLOYS SUCH AS TI-6AL-
4V
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Abstract
There are very many economic advantages that have been introduced by the additive
manufacturing technologies as compared to the other conventional methods of subtractive
manufacturing in low production volume and prototyping. Many industries for high technology
including biometric and aerospace have embraced this technique of additive manufacturing. The
application of additive manufacturing in the case of the titanium alloys has become an interesting
topic to study considering that this particular metal is very expensive. Also, the formation of this
metal by the use of other conventional means of manufacturing has never been easy. The alloys
of Ti-6Al-4V are used extensively in the industries of biomedical and aerospace. In recent
studies, a lot of focus has been directed to the additive manufacturing techniques to enhance the
mechanical values of Ti-6Al-4V. In this particular paper, a review application of additive
manufacturing on Ti-6Al-4V alloy has been comprehensively discussed.

Introduction
The concept of building up components layer by layer principle of deposition is called
prototyping. In recent work, this technique has evolved into additive layer manufacturing or what
is commonly referred to as rapid manufacturing. These entire three methods share the same idea
of having sliced three dimensional (3-D) computer-aided design or the CAD model. Such models
are sliced into a thin layer before they are physically rebuilt. In the recent industries, this
particular method is used in the building of very complex geometries from different types of
materials. The research work has indicated through experiments that the AM has the ability to
join materials and make objects from 3D model data[1].
With the current improvements in the AM processes, it is possible for the functional parts to be
manufactured. The methods of AM like Selective Laser Sintering are no longer considered as
part of the rapid prototyping. In addition to the powder-bed processes, there are several
possibilities in the manufacturing that are provided by direct deposition of laser including fusion
of the metal powder directly on cast metal blocks or machined components. This particular
process is commonly referred to as hybrid manufacturing[10]. The process of hybrid
manufacturing usually refers to the mix of conventional subtractive methods of manufacturing
and the newly introduced additive manufacturing technique[2].
The AM process has received attention in the past years from both the areas of commercial
interests and academic options. One of the main reasons for such developments is because
through AM technique it is possible to reduce overall time-to-market of current products in the
acceleration of designs, testing steps and finally prototyping. Also, the technique promises the
monolithic fabrication of the assembly arts that were being used traditionally. This has resulted

in the reduction of the weight through the removal of the fasteners from the complex equation.
They’re very many applications of the AM that have gained acceptance including fuel nozzles,
unmanned aerial vehicles, biomedical implants, and houses[11].
The problem statement of the research
Casting machine for titanium has been in use for a long time in the development of various
components. The heating of the titanium is normally done in a vacuum atmosphere and this will
always ensure that the melting points are kept as low as possible during the melting of the metal.
There are several problems that have been encountered by the professionals during the wax
casting technology in their daily routine[3]. These problems among other include distortion of
wax and the defects of casting that may possibly result in the product imprecision. The study,
therefore, seeks to evaluate the significance of modern additive manufacturing and other casting
technology through experimental setups as a way to address these problems.
Methodology and experimental design of research
Materials and methods
Casting
The specimen of the casts was generated with a Dentaurum Universal 230. This particular
component is usually an autocast casting unit. The first step involved 3D-printing of the
specimen from a material of polymeric[12]. There was making of a pre-designed model during
the process of manufacturing before the wax pattern could be embedded. The wax copy was
made with the help of material of silicone casting. This was then followed by spring and ceramic
embedding. The open-pore embedding material, as well as the interior pattern, was burnt out in