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Heat Treatment Behaviour of SLM-Built Titanium Matrix Composite: Microstructure and Tribological Performance

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Abstract

Selective laser melting (SLM) technique was used to fabricate in situ Ti-6Al-4V+TiB titanium matrix composite (TMC) samples by addition of sub-micron TiB2 ceramic particles in Ti-6Al-4V powder. The TMC samples were further subjected to annealing treatment at 900 °C for 30 minutes in an inert atmosphere. The influence of annealing treatment on the microstructure development was characterized using optical microscope and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The addition of TiB2 (0.2, 0.5 and 1.0 wt.%) induces drastic changes in the morphology of the as-built TMC samples. After annealing, a complete phase transformation occurred in pure Ti-6Al-4V alloy to lamellar shaped alpha and globular beta phase. In TMC samples, the increase in the weight fraction of TiB2 ceramic particles resulted in substantial grain refinement; however, grain coarsening was observed upon annealing treatment. Refinement in microstructure was associated with pinning effect of TiB whiskers. Coarsening of TiB whiskers also occurred with predominant increase in length as compared to width. Development in tribological performance was attributed to microstructure refinement.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the use of National facility of Texture and OIM (A DST-IRPHA project) and Nanoindentation lab of IIT Bombay. The corresponding author would like to acknowledge VRDE Ahmednagar for supporting the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering, Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Girinagar, Pune, Maharashtra, India

    Pankaj Kumar Verma, Sameer Warghane, Unissa Nichul & Vijay Hiwarkar

  2. Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

    Hitesh Mehtani

  3. DRDO, Vehicles Research and Development Establishment, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India

    Pankaj Kumar Verma & Pawan Kumar

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  1. Pankaj Kumar Verma
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Verma, P.K., Warghane, S., Nichul, U. et al. Heat Treatment Behaviour of SLM-Built Titanium Matrix Composite: Microstructure and Tribological Performance. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 31, 9586–9595 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-022-06981-4

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