GOALI/Collaborative Research: Process Development across Alloy Systems for Powder Bed Additive Manufacturing

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This collaborative Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) project will apply fundamental research to the problem of controlling melt pool dimensions and microstructure for electron beam direct metal powder bed additive manufacturing processes. Specifically, it will address how to transfer control methods developed for one material system to another material system in a way that reduces costly and time-consuming experimentation. To accomplish this, this project will develop a first-of-its kind modeling-based process mapping approach for application across different materials used in direct metal powder bed additive manufacturing processes. Process mapping methods will be applied to experiments performed on multiple metal alloys using additive manufacturing equipment available to the investigators. Direct metal additive manufacturing is of great interest to the aerospace, medical implant, and other industries. It offers the promise of decreased manufacturing cost, substantial reductions in the amount of material used to build a component, and the ability to fabricate structures not realizable by conventional manufacturing methods. Two barriers to widespread use of direct metal additive manufacturing in the aerospace and other industries are (1) the lack of a platform for transferring process knowledge (e.g. how to build shapes) from one metal alloy system to another; and (2) limited knowledge about controlling microstructure and mechanical properties for any alloy system. These barriers lead to expensive, costly experimentation in applying additive manufacturing to new material systems and the inability to certify mechanical strength in fabricated components. This project will overcome both of these barriers through research accomplished by a team that includes academic investigators from three universities (North Carolina State, Carnegie Mellon and Wright State) and a collaborator from the aerospace industry currently working to integrate direct metal additive manufacturing into component production (Pratt & Whitney).