80 Int. J. Materials Engineering Innovation, Vol. 7, No.
1, 2016
Cyclic elastoplastic behaviour, hardness and
microstructural properties of Ti-6Al-4V manufactured
through selective laser melting
Aroon Phaiboonworachat
School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
RMIT University,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Kyriakos I. Kourousis*
Department of Mechanical, Aeronautical and Biomedical Engineering,
University of Limerick,
Limerick, Co. Limerick, Ireland
and
School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
RMIT University,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Email: [email protected]
*Corresponding author
Abstract: Additive manufacturing methods have been increasingly attracting
the attention of researchers and engineers due to offered advantages in this
regard. Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing process
which is used to produce complex shaped parts. Limited research has been
reported so far on the cyclic elastoplastic response of SLM Ti-6Al-4V, a
technologically significant phenomenon affecting the low and high cycle
fatigue performance of the fabricated parts. This research presents preliminary
results obtained from an in-progress mechanical characterisation campaign
conducted on SLM Ti-6Al-4V specimens. Experimental data from uniaxial
strain controlled tests are presented in conjunction with surface hardness
measurements and an examination of the microstructural characteristics of the
materials. Wrought material data, obtained from testing and the literature are
utilised for comparison. Preliminary findings of ongoing research provide an
insight in the elastoplastic behaviour anticipated for this class of metals.
Keywords: plasticity; titanium; strain hardening; additive manufacturing;
SLM.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Phaiboonworachat, A. and
Kourousis, K.I. (2016) ‘Cyclic elastoplastic behaviour, hardness and
microstructural properties of Ti-6Al-4V manufactured through selective laser
melting’, Int. J. Materials Engineering Innovation, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.80–87.
Biographical notes: Aroon Phaiboonworachat is working as a Technical
Services Engineer in Kan Air in Thailand. He is an Aerospace Engineer,
graduate of the RMIT University in Australia and the Kasetsart University in
Thailand.
Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Cyclic elastoplastic behaviour, hardness and microstructural properties 81
Kyriakos I. Kourousis is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical,
Aeronautical and Biomedical Engineering in the University of Limerick. He is
an Aeronautical Engineer, graduate of the Hellenic Air Force Academy, with
Master’s and PhD studies in the areas of computational mechanics, solid
mechanics and metal plasticity. His expertise is in the area of cyclic plasticity
of metals used in various applications, having authored several research articles
published in journals and conferences.
1 Introduction
In the past 20 years, additive manufacturing technology has developed from simple three
dimensional (3D) printers used to generate non-structural resins into a sophisticated
manufacturing process capable to produce objects without the use of tools. Most recently,
the focus has been shifted from polymers to metals, primarily aiming to cover the needs
of the aerospace, biomedical and automobile industry. High precision manufacturing of
Titanium alloys, such as the Ti-6Al-4V, is of primary importance for the biomedical and
aerospace industry, due to the high cost involved and the engineering significance of the
applications. Various additive manufacturing techniques have been developed, such as
direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) and selective laser melting (SLM) being among the
most common ones. The SLM process, upon which this work is focused on, emerged
between the late 1980s and early 1990s (Vrancken et al., 2012). The SLM technique uses
an infrared fibre laser which assembles solid layers out of loose powder material. In
principle, a thin layer of loose powder is initially levelled across a processed platform and
selected areas of the powder are melted and consolidated, via a scanning laser beam, in a
serial pattern (Simonelli et al., 2012). In comparison with the conventional manufacturing
techniques, SLM offers many advantages, such as the reduction of production steps, high
level of flexibility, high efficiency in the use of material use and a near net shape
production. However, there are several important effects that need to be avoided: internal
stresses development, occurring from steep temperature gradients and high cooling rates
during the manufacturing process, and increased porosity (Liu et al., 2014; Gong et al.,
2015). All the effects have an impact on the mechanical behaviour of the material under
cyclic loading and low or high cycle fatigue. To this end, many researchers have been
working on measuring the impact of the manufacturing parameters (e.g., Naiju et al.,
2012) and optimise the material characteristics to mitigate these issues (e.g., Xu et al.,
2015a).
Ti-6Al-4V is one of metal alloys employed for SLM produced parts, mainly for
applications of high value, performance and complexity, due to its high strength and
strength-to-weight ratio.
A wide spectrum of mechanical properties over a range of temperatures can be
achieved by varying the microstructure of the dual-phase Ti-6Al-4V through appropriate
heat treatment and thermomechanical processing (Zhang et al., 2007). However, heat
treatment adds time and cost to the production process, reducing partly the advantages
offered by additive manufacturing. Moreover, customisation of the microstructure may be
achieved through altering the SLM manufacturing parameters. In this case the as-built
material can be utilised without further processing or treatment, which is highly
preferable from a manufacturing cost point of view. Various researchers have examined
82 A. Phaiboonworachat and K.I. Kourousis
the monotonic and high cycle fatigue behaviour of SLM Ti-6Al-4V nevertheless its
elastoplastic response under cyclic loading has not been investigated in much detail
(Leuders et al., 2013). This study aims to provide a set of preliminary results from an
ongoing experimental work conducted on the cyclic elastoplastic response of as-built
SLM Ti-6Al-4V.
2 Material and methods
Cylindrical cross-section Ti-6Al-4V specimens with gauge length of 13.05 mm and
gauge diameter of 5.98 mm have been built with SLM Solutions SLM® 250 HL
machine. This equipment has a rated power of 400 W under continuous laser mode and
minimal laser spot size of 80 microns The specimens have been fabricated with a laser
power of 175 W, at a laser scanning speed of 710 mm/s, 120 μm hatch spacing and a
30μm powder layer thickness. The platform was preheated to 200°C prior to the building
process and each specimen had a total of 2,746 layers.
3 Experimental details
3.1 Mechanical testing
The specimens were tested under symmetric strain controlled loading histories, with a
zero mean strain, prescribed at four different strain levels: ±1%, ±1.5%, ±2%, ±2.5%.
The test was performed on a 100kN MTS® 810 Material Test System at an environment
having 18°C temperature and 50% humidity. The specimens’ elongation was measured
with a 15 mm gauge length MTS® Series 632 clip-on gage extensometer. The test
machine applied on the specimens cyclic loads at a 1.2 mm/min rate, under a 0.067 Hz
frequency. A total of 150 cycles was programmed for the testing of each specimen.
3.2 Hardness testing
The mechanical testing was complemented by a Vickers hardness test (HV), with
measurements obtained via optical microscopy. For the purposes of the hardness test two
samples (one cross-sectional and one longitudinal) were obtained from the SLM
specimens and one sample (cross-sectional) from a Ti-6Al-4V specimen fabricated
through a conventional (wrought) process. Ten hardness measurements were obtained
from each sample.
3.3 Microstructure analysis
A microstructural analysis was performed, with samples taken from the cross-section and
longitudinal section of the SLM specimens. A chemical and mechanical preparation of
the samples has been conducted prior to optical microscopy observations. Ten
micrographs were obtained, under a random fashion, from the cross-sectional and
longitudinal section of the specimens. The micrographs enabled the analysis and
recording of the microstructure observations.
Cyclic elastoplastic behaviour, hardness and microstructural properties 83
4 Results and discussion
4.1 Mechanical testing
The stress – strain hysteresis loops obtained from the symmetric strain controlled cyclic
tests are presented in Figure 1. For the first three loading histories (at ±1%, ±1.5% and
±2% strain amplitude) the test was completed at 150 cycles (as programmed), while for
the fourth (±2.5% strain amplitude) stopped at 90 cycles, due to the specimen failure.
Figure 1 Stress – strain hysteresis loops obtained from the strain controlled testing of SLM
Ti-6Al-4V at prescribed strain levels (represented by the solid line)
The dashed line represents published experimental data for wrought Ti-6Al-4V (Mayeur
et al., 2008).
The SLM material exhibits, for each of the four strain levels, a cyclic softening
behaviour. Moreover, the yield stress, ranging from approximately 917 to 1,096 MPa, is
achieved for relatively low strains. This causes a compression in the shape of the
hysteresis loops, which is consistent with the brittle nature of the SLM material and its
low capacity to undertake plastic deformation during cyclic loading. This particular
feature of the SLM Ti-6Al-4V is evident in the hysteresis loops corresponding at ±1%
strain level (Figure 1) which are compared to experimental results for wrought Ti-6Al-4V
obtained from the literature (Mayeur et al., 2008). It is noted that the SLM material
exhibits a higher load capacity at the expense of reduced ductility.
4.2 Hardness testing
Table 1 summarises the Vickers hardness test (HV) results for the SLM Ti-6Al-4V,
compared with readings from wrought Ti-6Al-4V, fabricate for the purposes of this
study. The measurements from the SLM specimens are higher than that of the wrought
material, without any difference in the statistical variability of the values.
84 A. Phaiboonworachat and K.I. Kourousis
Table 1 Vickers hardness (HV) measurements for SLM and conventionally manufactured
Ti-6Al-4V
SLM Ti-6Al-4V WroughtTi-6Al-4V
Vickers hardness (HV)
Longitudinal Cross-section Cross-section
Average 401.5 393.2 322.8
Standard deviation 11.8 13.8 13.4
4.3 Microstructure analysis
The surface porosity of the SLM specimens was obtained from measurements conducted
on the micrographs. It is noted that the cross-sectional porosity value is 30% higher than
the longitudinal, namely 0.0052% and 0.0173% respectively. Figure 2 and Figure 3
presents examples of micrographs from cross-sectional and longitudinal samples
correspondingly, where porosity signs are apparent as dark spots, throughout the surface
of the samples.
Figure 2 Cross-sectional surface sample with porosity shown (distinct dark spots)
Figure 3 Longitudinal surface sample with porosity shown (distinct dark spots)
Cyclic elastoplastic behaviour, hardness and microstructural properties 85
Ti-6Al-4V alloys are composed of two phases, the α-phase (Hexagonal Close Packed,
HCP structure) and the β-phase (body centred cubic, BCC), while a α + β phase can be
present simultaneously. The examined SLM specimens’ samples revealed the presence of
a martensitic microstructure (α’-phase). In particular, the characteristic needle shaped
thin lamellas (lath martensite) of the α’-phase have been observed [Figure 4(a)].
Moreover, prior β-phase acicular shaped columns, with random orientation, have been
identified on the SLM material surface [two vertical bars containing column shown in
Figure 4(b)]. The length of the prior β-phase column has been measured as 183.8 μm.
Figure 4 SLM Ti-6Al-4V microstructure micrographs presenting (a) needle shaped thin lamellas
α’-phase (10× magnification) and (b) characteristic β-phase acicular shaped columns
indicated with the two vertical bars (5× magnification)
(a) (b)
A comparison of the microstructure of the SLM material to a wrought material was also
conducted. Unlike to the needle shaped lamellas observed in the SLM material
[Figure 5(a)], the wrought material is dominated by a spheroidite microstructure
containing α-phase and β-phase [bright areas and dark sports respectively, shown in
Figure 5(b)].
Figure 5 Comparison of the microstructure of (a) SLM Ti-6Al-4V (50× magnification) and
(b) wrought Ti-6Al-4V (50× magnification)
(a) (b)
86 A. Phaiboonworachat and K.I. Kourousis
5 Conclusions
The cyclic tests performed on as-built SLM material, resulting in elastoplastic behaviour,
have identified features important for fatigue performance considerations. High strength
and low ductility under cyclic loading are the primary characteristics observed, which are
opposed to lower values applicable for wroughtTi-6Al-4V. Of notice is the cyclic
softening behaviour observed at all strain levels. However, further testing (currently in
progress) is necessary to reveal the extent of the cyclic softening behaviour under various
combinations of strain levels. This is of particular importance for revealing the
performance characteristics of as-built SLM Ti-6Al-4V alloys. Plastic deformation
absorbance, approximated by the area enclosed by the hysteresis loops, is lower for the
SLM Ti-6Al-4V, which in turn has a negative effect on the low and high cycle fatigue
life of the materials, as previously reported – e.g., Leuders et al. (2013), Xu et al.
(2015b). The hardness test results obtained in this study are consistent with these findings
(the SLM material has higher values compared to wrought material).
The existence and extent of porosity has been examined, as this one of the profound
factors for contributing to reduced fatigue performance. The obtained results confirmed
the presence of relatively high porosity, which is an area of general concern for additive
manufacturing techniques relying on laser-based technologies. This general observation
has been confirmed with the present study. The analysis of the microstructure revealed
significant findings, able to provide a preliminary understanding of the underlying
mechanisms influencing the cyclic elastoplastic response of the SLM material. The
microstructural characteristics of SLM and wrought Ti-6Al-4V have been found to be
significantly different (SLM: lath martensite, wrought: spheroidite structure). The higher
cyclic strength and surface hardness exhibited by the SLM material (compared to
wrought metal) can be attributed to the dominant lath martensite structure.
This preliminary study has investigated the uniaxial cyclic elastoplastic behaviour of
SLM Ti-6Al-4V, as a factor influencing low and high cycle fatigue performance.
However, further research, currently underway, aims to explore the multi-axial (biaxial)
cyclic response of the material. These studies will be able to extend the research
community knowledge in these areas and validate this set of preliminary findings coming
out of this work. A thorough analysis of the microstructural characteristics (including
Transmission Electron Microscopy), also in progress, will support this test campaign. A
biaxial test campaign is also in progress, investigating the material cyclic behaviour
under more complex loading cases.
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by the Centre for Additive Manufacturing of RMIT
University, in the frame of an undergraduate final year research project. The assistance of
Prof. Milan Brandt and Dr. Shoujin Sun in the facilitation of the experiments and
interpretation of the obtained results is greatly acknowledged.
Cyclic elastoplastic behaviour, hardness and microstructural properties 87
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