Ti alloy 3D Printing Process

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Titanium alloy 3D printing process

Titanium alloy 3D printing technology has been widely used in aerospace, medical, automotive and industrial fields. With the continuous development and improvement of technology in the future, its application field will be further expanded.

Titanium alloy 3D printing process can be divided into the following categories:

Photocuring technology: Utilize ultraviolet rays or laser beams to irradiate photosensitive materials to form complex structures by layer-by-layer accumulation. Common photocuring technologies include SLA, DLP, and PolyJet.

Powder bed sintering technology: Titanium alloy powder is placed on the construction platform, and the laser beam or electron beam scans and melts the powder layer by layer to form the desired shape. Common powder bed sintering technologies include SLS, SLM, and EBM.

Composite manufacturing technology: After mixing titanium alloy powder with polymer resin, it is processed by melt spraying or extrusion molding to form the desired structure. This technique does not require an additional sintering step and is suitable for the fabrication of special shapes. Common composite manufacturing technologies include FDM and MJF, etc.

At present, in the field of titanium alloy 3D printing, powder bed sintering technology is the most commonly used one. Among them, technologies such as SLS, SLM, and EBM are widely used in aerospace, medical, automotive, and industrial fields, because these technologies can achieve high-precision, high-strength, and complex-shaped manufacturing. At the same time, these technologies can also use different parameter adjustments to control the microstructure and properties of materials to meet the needs of different application scenarios. Although light curing technology and composite manufacturing technology also have their advantages, their application in the field of titanium alloy 3D printing is still relatively limited.

Titanium alloy 3D printing process generally adopts powder bed fusion molding technology. This technique mainly includes the following steps:

Modeling and design: Model and design the parts to be produced, and convert them into file formats that can be used by 3D printers.

Preparation of raw materials: Select suitable titanium alloy powder, and carry out screening, pretreatment and mixing to ensure the stability of powder quality.

Printing: Spread the pretreated titanium alloy powder evenly on the printing bed, scan the powder with a laser beam or an electron beam, and melt and solidify it to form a layer of solid objects. This process is then repeated until the entire part has been printed.

Heat treatment: After printing, parts need to be heat treated to remove internal stress and structural defects, and to increase the strength and durability of the part.

Post-processing: According to the needs, post-processing such as surface treatment, processing and painting can be carried out on the printed parts.