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Composition-induced microcrack defect formation in the twin-wire plasma arc additive manufacturing of binary TiAl alloy: An X-ray computed tomography-based investigation

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Abstract

In recent years, an innovative twin-wire plasma arc additive manufacturing (TW-PAAM) process is conducted to the in situ alloying of TiAl alloys. As a newly invented method of TiAl alloy fabrication, the microcrack defect is a great concern. In the present research, two binary TiAl alloys containing different microcrack tendencies, Ti-45Al and Ti-48Al, are fabricated using the TW-PAAM method. To locate possible defects in the as-fabricated alloys, the non-destructive testing X-ray computed tomography is performed. According to the results, under the same TW-PAAM parameter set, microcracks are initiated throughout Ti-45Al while Ti-48Al stays integrated. Also, more α2-Ti3Al are generated in grain boundaries of Ti-45Al than Ti-48Al, thus lead to higher local misorientations and the intergranular microcracks. The clarification of the Al content-induced microcrack generation provides clear improvement direction of the innovative additive manufacturing technique.

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The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time as the data also forms part of an ongoing study.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (STCSM, Funding No. 19511106400, “Sailing Program” No. 19YF1422700), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Funding No. 51901136).

Funding

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Lab of Materials Laser Processing and Modification, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Chen Shen, Xueming Hua, Fang Li, Yuelong Zhang, Lin Wang & Yuhan Ding

  2. Department of Discipline Engineering, AECC Commercial Aircraft Engine Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 200241, China

    Ting Zhang & Ying Li

  3. Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Civil Aero Engine, Shanghai, 200241, China

    Ting Zhang & Ying Li

  4. School of Materials Engineering, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Peilei Zhang & Qinghua Lu

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  1. Chen Shen
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  2. Xueming Hua
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  3. Fang Li
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Correspondence to Xueming Hua.

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Shen, C., Hua, X., Li, F. et al. Composition-induced microcrack defect formation in the twin-wire plasma arc additive manufacturing of binary TiAl alloy: An X-ray computed tomography-based investigation. Journal of Materials Research 36, 4974–4985 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-021-00412-1

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