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Completed TRL 3 (started at 2, targeting 3)
Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly growing technology that builds three-dimensional parts from a computer file by adding successive layers of raw metal powder to create an object. AM offers significant advantages over the traditional counterpart in its potential to produce complex geometries that are otherwise difficult or impossible to manufacture. Despite rigorous studies on various metallic alloys in AM, the properties remain inferior to those of wrought or cast counterparts. Anisotropic microstructure due to columnar grain growth, process-induced defects, and residual stress are detrimental to the static and cyclic mechanical properties of additively manufactured parts.
The purpose of this project is to overcome these limitations of AM by designing novel metastable alloys. We plan to explore the metastability of multiple-principal element alloys, the so-called high entropy alloys (HEAs). By decreasing the manganese content in a FeMnCoCr HEA, we trigger new deformation modes (twinning and phase transformation). These deformation modes modify the microstructure of printed parts during the intrinsic heat treatment of AM. Additionally, these metastable alloys undergo twinning or phase transformation upon loading, which makes the printed parts more defect tolerant due to these additional deformation mechanisms.
A successful completion of this project will result in a dramatic advancement in the fundamental understanding of the effect of metastability on grain morphology, residual stress, and mechanical properties of AM parts. We will conduct in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction and multiscale characterization techniques to establish the correlations between composition, process, microstructure, and properties. The findings of this project can provide significant benefits to cost, schedule, and performance of future aerospace systems such as the development of complex jet engine parts with superior service temperature to nickel and cobalt based superalloys.
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