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The Global Exploration Strategy of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) describes a timeframe of 2020 and beyond with the ultimate aim to establish a human presence on Mars towards the 2040ies. The next steps lie on the Moon with a focus on the coming 10 years. Early lunar surface missions will establish a capability in support of lunar science and prepare and test mission operations for subsequent human exploration of Mars and long-duration human activities on the Moon.
Given the extreme costs involved in the shipping of material from Earth, a prerequisite for future human exploration is the manufacturing of elements directly on the Moon’s surface. Unlike the equipment, which at the beginning will have to be brought from Earth, raw materials and energy could be available following the concept of In-Situ Resource Utilization. The ESA OSIP PAVING THE ROAD (PAVER) study investigates the use of a laser to sinter regolith into paving elements for use as roadways and launch pads thus mitigating dust issues for transport and exploration vehicles.
The ESA-funded study examines the potential of using a laser (12 kW CO2 laser with spot beam up to 100 mm) for layer sintering of lunar and martian regolith powders to manufacture larger 3D elements and provide know-how for the automatic manufacture of paving elements in the lunar environment. The project contributes to the first step toward the establishment of a lunar base and will lead to the construction of equipment capable of paving areas and manufacturing 3D structures.
PAVER project sets the starting point for an examination of the larger context of lunar exploration. Mission scenarios will look at different phases of lunar exploration: Robotic Lunar Exploration, Survivability, Sustainability, and Operational Phase. A proposed Technology Roadmap investigates the mission scenario and analyses how, and to which extent, laser melting/sintering will play a role in the various phases of exploration. The paper contextualizes laser sintering within selected mission scenarios and discusses the different kinds of infrastructure that can be produced at each phase of the mission. The outcome of the study includes the detailing of the TRL steps in the project and an outline of a timeline for the different elements. Covered aspects include terrain modelling such as operation pads, roadways, or towers, non-pressurized building structures to protect machinery, and habitat envelopes, to protect and shield humans against dust, micrometeoroids, and radiation.
Influence of a 265 °C heat treatment on the residual stress state of a PBF-LB/M AlSi10Mg alloy
(2022)
Laser Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB/M) additive manufacturing (AM) induces
high magnitude residual stress (RS) in structures due to the extremely heterogeneous cooling and heating rates. As the RS can be deleterious to the fatigue resistance of engineering components, great efforts are focused on understanding their generation and evolution after post-process heat treatments. In this study, one of the few of its kind, the RS relaxation induced in an as-built PBF-LB/M AlSi10Mg material by a low-temperature heat treatment (265 °C for 1 h) is studied by means of X-ray and neutron diffraction. Since the specimens are manufactured using a baseplate heated up to 200 °C, low RS are found in the as-built condition. After heat treatment a redistribution of the RS is observed, while their magnitude remains constant. It is proposed that the redistribution is induced by a repartition of stresses between the a-aluminium matrix and the silicon phase, as the morphology of the silicon phase is affected by the heat treatment. A considerable scatter is observed in the neutron diffraction RS profiles, which is principally correlated to the presence (or absence) of pockets of porosity developed at the borders of the chessboard pattern.
3D-printed landing pads on the moon: Paving the road for large area sintering of lunar regolith.
A prerequisite for lunar exploration and beyond is the manufacturing of objects directly on the moon, given the extreme costs involved in the shipping of material from Earth. Looking at processes, raw materials, and energy sources, equipment will certainly have to be brought from Earth at the beginning. Available on the moon are lunar regolith as raw material and the sun as an energy source. One of the first steps towards the establishment of a lunar base is the creation of infrastructure elements, such as roads and landing pads.
We’ll introduce you to the ESA-project PAVER that demonstrates the sintering and melting of lunar regolith simulant material to produce large scale 3D printed elements that could be used during human and robotic lunar explorations.
With additive manufacturing in the powder bed, the component size is limited by the installation space. Joint welding of additively manufactured parts offers a possibility to remove this size limitation. However, due to the specific stress and microstructure state in the additively built material, it is unclear to what extent existing evaluation rules of joint welding are also suitable for welds on additive components. This is investigated using laser beam welding of additively manufactured pipe joints. The welds are evaluated by means of visual inspection, metallographic examinations as well as computed tomography. The types of defects found are comparable to conventional components. This is an indicator that existing evaluation regulations also map the possible defects occurring for weld seams on additive components.
When it comes to higher accuracies, new technologies and real applications in additive manufacturing, there is one topic which cannot be avoided: The material response on the chosen processing parameters and its agreement and correspondence with literature data of the wrought material grade counterpart. In industrial Additive Manufacturing (AM) standards in terms of printing parameters, protection gas atmospheres or powder handling instructions are not obligatory. Therefore, the question must be answered whether the AM process is reproducible and reliable over different printing companies. This was the motivation to realize a round robin test between 8 European printing companies and academic partners. The consortium had printed and tested fatigue and tensile testing bars under plant-specific conditions. A commonly used cast aluminum alloy, AlSi10Mg, was chosen as test material for the PBF-LB/M process. Differences of the results between the partners and the scatter itself were discussed in detail.
When it comes to higher accuracies, new technologies and real applications in additive manufacturing, there is one topic which cannot be avoided: The material response on the chosen processing parameters and its agreement and correspondence with literature data of the wrought material grade counterpart. In industrial Additive Manufacturing (AM) standards in terms of printing parameters, protection gas atmospheres or powder handling instructions are not obligatory. Therefore, the question must be answered whether the AM process is reproducible and reliable over different printing companies. This was the motivation to realize a round robin test between 8 European printing companies and academic partners. The consortium had printed and tested fatigue and tensile testing bars under plant-specific conditions. A commonly used cast aluminum alloy, AlSi10Mg, was chosen as test material for the PBF-LB/M process. Differences of the results between the partners and the scatter itself were discussed in detail.
Directed energy deposition (DED) has been in industrial use as a coating process for many years. Modern applications include the repair of existing components and additive manufacturing. The main advantages of DED are high deposition rates and low energy input. However, the process is influenced by a variety of parameters affecting the component quality. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) offer the possibility of mapping complex processes such as DED. They can serve as a tool for predicting optimal process parameters and quality characteristics. Previous research only refers to weld beads: a transferability to additively manufactured three-dimensional components has not been investigated. In the context of this work, an ANN is generated based on 86 weld beads. Quality categories (poor, medium, and good) are chosen as target variables to combine several quality features. The applicability of this categorization compared to conventional characteristics is discussed in detail. The ANN predicts the quality category of weld beads with an average accuracy of 81.5%. Two randomly generated parameter sets predicted as “good” by the network are then used to build tracks, coatings,walls, and cubes. It is shown that ANN trained with weld beads are suitable for complex parameter predictions in a limited way.
With the introduction of a hydrogen-based energy and national economy, safety-relevant components for hydrogen technologies are becoming increasingly important. Characteristic of hydrogen technologies are, for example, harsh environmental conditions such as cryogenic or high-pressure storage, corrosion issues in fuel cells and electrolyzers, turbines, and many more. Additive manufacturing of components is becoming increasingly important and irreplaceable for the production of complex technical systems. Using the case studies of burners for gas turbines and electrodes and membranes for polymer (PEMFC) and solid oxide (SOFC) fuel cells, this article shows the potential of additive manufacturing of components. At the same time, however, the challenge of considering divergent mechanical properties depending on the direction of assembly in a "hydrogen-compatible" manner is also highlighted. Finally, the challenges posed by additive manufacturing and hydrogen for materials testing are highlighted under scenarios that are as realistic as possible.
Additively manufactured (AM) triply periodic metallic minimum surface structures (TPMSS, from the English Triply Periodic Minimum Surface Structures) fulfill several requirements in both biomedical and engineering fields: tunable mechanical properties, low sensitivity to manufacturing defects, mechanical stability, and high energy absorption. However, they also present some quality control challenges that may prevent their successful application. In fact, optimization of the AM process is impossible without considering structural features such as manufacturing accuracy, internal defects, and surface topography and roughness. In this study, quantitative nondestructive analysis of Ti-6Al-4V alloy TPMSS was performed using X-ray computed tomography (XCT). Several new image analysis workflows are presented to evaluate the effects of buildup direction on wall thickness distribution, wall degradation, and surface roughness reduction due to chemical etching of TPMSS. It is shown that the fabrication accuracy is different for the structural elements printed parallel and orthogonal to the fabricated layers. Different strategies for chemical etching showed different powder removal capabilities and thus a gradient in wall thickness. This affected the mechanical performance under compression by reducing the yield stress. A positive effect of chemical etching is the reduction of surface roughness, which can potentially improve the fatigue properties of the components. Finally, XCT was used to correlate the amount of powder retained with the pore size of the TPMSS, which can further improve the manufacturing process.
The printability of artificial defects inside the additively manufactured laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) 316L stainless steel is investigated. The printing parameters of the LPBF process are optimized to produce artificial defects with reproducible sizes at desired positions while minimizing redundant porosity. The smallest obtained artificial defect is 90 μm in diameter. The accuracy of the geometry of the printed defect depends on both the height and the diameter in the input model. The effect of artificial defects on the very-high-cycle fatigue (VHCF) behavior of LPBF 316L stainless steel is also studied. The specimens printed with artificial defects in the center are tested under VHCF using an ultrasonic machine. Crack initiation is accompanied by the formation of a fine granular area (FGA), typical of VHCF. Despite the presence of relatively large artificial defects, FGA formation is observed around accidental natural printing defects closer to the surface, which can still be considered as internal. The causes for this occurrence are discussed.
The availability of high-performance Al alloys in AM is limited due to difficulties in printability, requiring both the development of synergetic material and AM process to mitigate problems such as solidification cracking during laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The goal of this work was to investigate the failure mechanism in a LPBF 7017 Aluminium alloy + 3 wt% Zr + 0.5 wt% TiC. The processing leads to different categories of Zr-rich inclusions, precipitates and defects.
Co-Cr alloys are frequently used for highly stressed components, especially in turbine and plant construction, due to their high resistance to thermal and mechanical stress, as well as to corrosive and abrasive loads. Furthermore, they are classified as difficult-to-cut materials because of their high strength and toughness as well as their low thermal conductivity. However, for Co, an increased cost and supply risk can be observed in recent years. Therefore, additive manufacturing (AM) offers significant economic advantages due to higher material efficiency regarding repair, modification, and manufacturing of such components. Concerning inhomogeneity and anisotropy of the microstructure and properties as well as manufacturing-related stresses, a lot of knowledge is still necessary for the economic use of additive welding processes in SMEs. In addition, subsequent machining, particularly contour milling, is essential to generate the required complex contours and surfaces. Hence, additive and machining manufacturing processes need to be coordinated in a complementary way, especially due to additional challenges arising in milling of heterogeneous hard-to-cut microstructures. Recently, it has been shown that modern, hybrid cutting processes, such as ultrasonic-assisted milling (US), can improve the cutting situation. In this investigation, the Co-Cr initial alloy is additionally modified with Ti and Zr up to 1 wt% with the aim to enhance the homogeneity of the microstructure and, thus, the machinability. Hence the investigation includes finish milling tests of the AM components and the comparison of US and conventional machining. Both the modifications and the ultrasonic assistance exhibit a significant effect on the machining situation; for example US causes a higher surface integrity of the finish milled surfaces compared to conventional milling.
The round robin test investigated the reliability users can expect for AlSi10Mg additive manufactured specimens by laser powder bed fusion through examining powder quality, process parameter, microstructure defects, strength and fatigue. Besides for one outlier, expected static material properties could be found. Optical microstructure inspection was beneficial to determine true porosity and porosity types to explain the occurring scatter in properties. Fractographic analyses reveal that the fatigue crack propagation starts at the rough as-built surface for all specimens. Statistical analysis of the scatter in fatigue using statistical derived safety factors concludes that at a stress of 36.87 MPa the fatigue limit of 107 cycles could be reached for all specimen with a survival probability of 99.999 %.
The manufacturability of metallic alloys using laser-based additive manufacturing methods such as laser powder bed fusion has substantially improved within the last decade. However, local melting and solidification cause hierarchically structured and crystallographically textured microstructures possessing large residual stress. Such microstructures are not only the origin of mechanical anisotropy but also pose metrological challenges for the diffraction-based residual stress determination. Here we demonstrate the influence of the build orientation and the texture on the microstructure and consequently the mechanical anisotropy of as-built Inconel 718. For this purpose, we manufactured specimens with [001]/[011]-, [001]- and [011]/[111]-type textures along their loading direction. In addition to changes in the Young’s moduli, the differences in the crystallographic textures result in variations of the yield and ultimate tensile strengths. With this in mind, we studied the anisotropy on the micromechanical scale by subjecting the specimens to tensile loads along the different texture directions during in situ neutron diffraction experiments. In this context, the response of multiple lattice planes up to a tensile strain of 10% displayed differences in the load partitioning and the residual strain accumulation for the specimen with [011]/[111]-type texture. However, the relative behavior of the specimens possessing an [001]/[011]- and [001]-type texture remained qualitatively similar. The consequences on the metrology of residual stress determination methods are discussed.
Alloy 36 (1.3912), also known as “Invar”, is an alloy with 36% nickel. The alloy has a remarkably low thermal expansion coefficient in certain temperature ranges. Therefore, it is used in applications in which dimensional stability is critical, such as moulding tools for composite materials in aerospace and automotive applications. Moreover, increasingly complex structures and the optimisation of resource efficiency also require additive manufacturing steps for the production or repair of components. Additively manufactured components have a heterogeneous microstructure and anisotropic mechanical properties. In part I of this investigation, the initial alloy 36 is modified with the elements Ti, Zr and Hf up to a maximum of 0.33 wt.-%. The influence of the modification elements on the microstructure as well as on the hardness of the AM components is examined. Part II focusses on the effect of the alloy modifications on machinability as well as on the surface integrity of plasma-transferred-arc-welded (PTA) and finish milled invar components. The results show that PTA welding cause numerous finely distributed precipitates with high silicon content.
Ni alloys are generally classified as difficult-to-cut materials and cost intensive. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers economic advantages. However, machining of these AM components is mandatory to create the final contour or surface. The inhomogeneous and anisotropic microstructure and properties of AM components causes an unstable cutting process. Moreover, undesirable tensile residual stresses are generated due to subsequent machining. In this investigation, the initial alloy 36 is modified with Ti and Nb up to 1.6 wt.-% and build-up welded via gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and plasma-transferred-arc (PTA). Then, finish-milling tests are carried out to investigate the influence of the modification as well as the cutting parameters on the resulting cutting force and the surface integrity. In addition, the conventional milling process (CM) is compared with the ultrasonic-assisted milling process (US), which has a significant influence on the machinability as well as on the surface integrity.
Alloy 36 (1.3912), also known as “Invar”, is an alloy with 36% nickel. It was developed in 1897 by Guillaume and stands out for its very low thermal expansion coefficient. It is classified as a difficult-to-cut material and is commonly used for the production of fiber-reinforced composites in the field of mold construction. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers many economic advantages regarding the repair, modification and manufacture of entire components. Subsequent machining of the AM components is necessary to account for complex structures, final contours or defined surfaces. In part I of this investigation, the initial alloy 36 is modified with the elements Ti, Zr and Hf up to a maximum of 0.33 wt.-%. The influence of the modification elements on the microstructure as well as on the hardness of the AM components is examined. Part II focusses on the effect of the alloy modifications on machinability as well as on the surface integrity of plasma-transferred-arc-welded (PTA) and finish milled invar components. Machining tests were carried out, to investigate the influence of ultrasonic assistance and the effects of modification elements Ti, Zr and Hf on the occurring cutting forces, temperatures and resulting surface integrity of the AM components made of alloy 36 and their modifications. The results show a significant positive influence of ultrasonic assistance on the resulting cutting force as well as on the roughness of all materials investigated.
Co-Cr alloys are frequently used for highly stressed components, especially in turbine and plant construction, due to their high resistance to thermal and mechanical stress, as well as to corrosive and abrasive loads. Furthermore, they are classified as difficult-to-cut materials because of their high strength and toughness as well as their low thermal conductivity. However, for Co, an increased cost and supply risk can be observed in recent years. Therefore, additive manufacturing (AM) offers significant economic advantages due to higher material efficiency regarding repair, modification, and manufacturing of such components. Concerning inhomogeneity and anisotropy of the microstructure and properties as well as manufacturing-related stresses, a lot of knowledge is still necessary for the economic use of additive welding processes in SMEs. In addition, subsequent machining, particularly contour milling, is essential to generate the required complex contours and surfaces. Hence, additive and machining manufacturing processes need to be coordinated in a complementary way, especially due to additional challenges arising in milling of heterogeneous hard-to-cut microstructures. Recently, it has been shown that modern, hybrid cutting processes, such as ultrasonic-assisted milling (US), can improve the cutting situation. In this investigation, the Co-Cr initial alloy is additionally modified with Ti and Zr up to 1 wt.-% with the aim to enhance the homogeneity of the microstructure and, thus, the machinability. Hence the investigation includes finish milling tests of the AM components and the comparison of US and conventional machining. Both the modifications and the ultrasonic assistance exhibit a significant effect on the machining situation, e.g., US causes a higher surface integrity of the finish milled surfaces compared to conventional milling.
Ni alloys are generally classified as difficult-to-cut materials and cost intensive. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers economic advantages. However, machining of these AM components is mandatory to create the final contour or surface. The inhomogeneous and anisotropic microstructure and properties of AM components causes an unstable cutting process. Moreover, undesirable tensile residual stresses are generated due to subsequent machining. In this investigation, the initial alloy 36 is modified with Ti and Nb up to 1.6 wt.-% and build-up welded via gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and plasma-transferred-arc (PTA). Then, finish-milling tests are carried out to investigate the influence of the modification as well as the cutting parameters on the resulting cutting force and the surface integrity. In addition, the conventional milling process (CM) is compared with the ultrasonic-assisted milling process (US), which has a significant influence on the machinability as well as on the surface integrity.
Design methodology of vessel produced by L PBF stainless steel using representative specimens
(2022)
This work presents the preliminary results of an ongoing project with a double objective: on the one hand, the characterisation of the mechanical properties against fatigue damage of an additively manufactured 316 stainless steel produced by laser powder bed-based (L-PBF) technology; on the other hand, the implementation of numerical simulation techniques able to predict the mechanical behaviour of the material in order to optimise and reduce the design costs of vessels used in the chemical sector. The current state of the work developed in this research framework allows showing the first batch of experimental results of crack propagation rate (FCGR) and high cycle fatigue (HCF) tests. The geometry of the vessels studied presents three clearly differentiated regions, either in terms of thickness (11-15 mm) or concerning the inclination of the walls to the direction of manufacturing (0º - 45º). The experimental campaign carried out so far allows identifying the differences in behaviour when comparing different extraction locations around the vessel. This is due to the variations in thermal cycles that the deposited material undergoes during the manufacturing process. Therefore, this causes variations in the microstructure which lead to changes in the response of the material. In this work, these differences are analysed qualitatively and quantitatively from the results of FCGR and HCF, thus allowing to locate the regions with the highest risk in terms of structural integrity against fatigue. This preliminary phase together with the numerical simulation of the additive manufacturing process are key to achieving a reliable description and modelling of the material. The latter will make it possible to address the priority aim of this project, involving the manufacture of independent samples whose properties are representative of the original material extracted from the reference vessels. It is, therefore, a comprehensive methodology for the design of additively manufactured components based on the localised fatigue mechanical properties of representative specimens.
The overview of the activity of group 8.5 Micro-NDT (BAM, Belin, Germany) in the field of additively manufacturing material characterization will be presented. The challenges in the residual stress analysis of AM components are discussed on the basis on the show studies performed in BAM. Also, the synchrotron X-ray refraction technique, available in BAM, is presented, showing example of in-situ heating test of Al10SiMg AM material.
Additively manufactured (AM) metallic sheet-based Triply Periodic Minimal Surface Structures (TPMSS) meet several requirements in both bio-medical and engineering fields: Tunable mechanical properties, low sensitivity to manufacturing defects, mechanical stability, and high energy absorption. However, they also present some challenges related to quality control. In fact, the optimization of both the AM process and the properties of TPMSS is impossible without considering structural characteristics as manufacturing accuracy, internal defects, and as well as surface topography and roughness. In this study, the quantitative non-destructive analysis of TPMSS manufactured from Ti-6Al-4V alloy by electron beam melting was performed by means of laboratory X-ray computed tomography (XCT).
Most of the Al alloys used in additive manufacturing (AM), in particular Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), do not exceed a strength of 200 MPa, whereas conventionally high-performance alloys exhibit strengths exceeding 400 MPa. The availability of such Al alloys in AM is limited due to difficulties in printability, requiring synergetic material and AM process development to satisfy harsh processing conditions during LPBF [1]. One approach is the addition of reinforcement to the based powder, allowing tailoring composition and properties of a Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) by AM. Still, the effect of the reinforcement on the resulting mechanical properties must be studied to understand the performance and limits of the newly developed material. The goal of this work was to investigate the failure mechanism of LPBF Al-based MMC material using in-situ Synchrotron X-ray Computed Tomography (SXCT) during mechanical testing.
The complexity of any microstructural characterization significantly increases when there is a need to evaluate the icrostructural evolution as a function of temperature. To date, this characterization is primarily performed by undertaking elaborative ex-situ experiments where the material’s heating procedure is interrupted at different temperatures or times. Moreover, these studies are often limited to a region smaller than the representative elementary volume, which can lead to partial or even biased interpretations of the collected data. This limitation can be greatly overcome by using in-situ synchrotron X-ray refraction (SXRR).
The industrial use of additive manufacturing for the production of metallic parts with high geometrical complexity and lot sizes close to one is rapidly increasing as a result of mass individualisation and applied safety relevant constructions. However, due to the high complexity of the production process, it is not yet fully understood and controlled, especially for changing (lot size one) part geometries.
Due to the thermal nature of the Laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process – where parts are built up layer-wise by melting metal powder via laser - the properties of the produced part are strongly governed by its thermal history. Thus, a promising route for process monitoring is the use of thermography. However, the reconstruction of temperature information from thermographic data relies on the knowledge of the surface emissivity at each position on the part. Since the emissivity is strongly changing during the process due to phase changes, great temperature gradients, possible oxidation, and other potential influencing factors, the extraction of real temperature data from thermographic images is challenging. While the temperature development in and around the melt pool, where melting and solidification occur is most important for the development of the part properties. Also, the emissivity changes are most severe in this area, rendering the temperature deduction most challenging.
A possible route to overcome the entanglement of temperature and emissivity in the thermal radiation is the use of hyperspectral imaging in combination with temperature emissivity separation (TES) algorithms. As a first step towards the combined temperature and emissivity determination in the L-PBF process, here, we use a hyperspectral line camera system operating in the short-wave infrared region (0.9 µm to 1.7 µm) to measure the spectral radiance emitted. In this setup, the melt pool of the L-PBF process migrates through the camera’s 1D field of view, so that the radiation intensities are recorded simultaneously for multiple different wavelength ranges in a spatially resolved manner. At sufficiently high acquisition frame rate, an effective melt pool image can be reconstructed. Using the grey body approximation (emissivity is independent of the wavelength), a first, simple TES is performed, and the resulting emissivity and temperature values are compared to literature values. Subsequent work will include reference measurements of the spectral emissivity in different states allowing its analytical parametrisation as well as the adaption and optimisation of the TES algorithms. An illustration of the proposed method is shown in Fig.1.
The investigated method will allow to gain a deeper understanding of the L-PBF process, e.g., by quantitative validation of simulation results. Additionally, the results will provide a data basis for the development of less complex and cheaper sensor technologies for L-PBF in-process monitoring (or for related process), e.g., by using machine learning.
The overview of the activity of group 8.5 Micro-NDT (BAM, Belin, Germany) in the field of additively manufacturing material characterization will be presented. The research of our group is focused on the 3D imaging of AM materials by means of X-ray Computed Tomography at the lab and at synchrotron, and the residual stress characterization by diffraction (nondestructive technique).
Recently, additive manufacturing of ceramics has achieved the maturity to be transferred from scientific laboratories to industrial applications. At the same time, research is progressing to expand the boundaries of this field into the territory of novel materials and applications. This feature issue addresses current progress in all aspects of additive manufacturing of ceramics, from parts design to feedstock selection, from technological development to characterization of printed components.
Instead of foreseeing and preparing for all possible scenarios of machine failures, accidents, and other challenges arising in space missions, it appears logical to take advantage of the flexibility of additive manufacturing for “in-space manufacturing” (ISM). Manned missions into space rely on complicated equipment, and their safe operation is a great challenge. Bearing in mind the absolute distance for manned missions to the Moon and Mars, the supply of spare parts for the repair and replacement of lost equipment via shipment from Earth would require too much time. With the high flexibility in design and the ability to manufacture ready-to-use components directly from a computer-aided model, additive manufacturing technologies appear to be extremely attractive in this context. Moreover, appropriate technologies are required for the manufacture of building habitats for extended stays of astronauts on the Moon and Mars, as well as material/feedstock. The capacities for sending equipment and material into space are not only very limited and costly, but also raise concerns regarding environmental issues on Earth. Accordingly, not all materials can be sent from Earth, and strategies for the use of in-situ resources, i.e., in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), are being
envisioned. For the manufacturing of both complex parts and equipment, as well as for large infrastructure, appropriate technologies for material processing in space need to be developed.
Alloy 36 (1.3912), also known as “Invar”, is an alloy with 36% nickel. It was developed in 1897 by Guillaume and stands out for its very low thermal expansion coefficient. It is classified as a difficult-to-cut material and is commonly used for the production of fiber-reinforced composites in the field of mold construction. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers many economic advantages regarding the repair, modification and manufacture of entire components. Subsequent machining of the AM components is necessary to account for complex structures, final contours or defined surfaces. This is usually done using a tool with a geometrically defined cutting edge, i.e., milling processes. Surface integrity is determined by metallurgical (e.g., microstructure of the subsurface), topological (e.g., surface defects, roughness) and mechanical (e.g., residual stresses) factors, which is crucial in terms of component safety and performance. Modern, hybrid cutting processes, such as ultrasonic-assisted milling (US), provide potentially improvement of the cutting situation of these components.
In part I of this investigation, the initial alloy 36 is modified with the elements Ti, Zr and Nb up to a maximum of 1 wt.-%. The influence of the modification elements on the microstructure as well as on the hardness of the AM components is examined. Part II focusses on the effect of the alloy modifications on machinability as well as on the surface integrity of plasma-transferred-arc-welded (PTA) and finish milled invar components.
The results show a significant positive influence of ultrasonic assistance on the resulting cutting force of both materials. The modification with 1% Ti shows a positive influence on the surface integrity, as the roughness of the conventional machining processes is lower compared to the initial alloy, which has to be confirmed in further experiments.
Ni alloys are cost intensive materials and generally classified as difficult-to-cut materials. However, machining of these materials is needed especially in case of alloy 36 (1.3912), which is commonly used in mould construction for the production of fibre-reinforced composites. With regard to repair, modification and manufacturing of such components, additive manufacturing offers significant economic advantages. Nevertheless, subsequent machining steps are needed to achieve the final component contour and defined surface conditions. Dependent on the material and machining process conditions, detrimental tensile residual stresses may be the result on the machined surface, having negative impact on the component performance and safety. Recent studies exhibited that hybrid machining processes, such as ultrasonic-assisted milling (USAM), are suitable for achieving favourable residual stress states at the surface of difficult-to-cut Ni-Cr alloys. In this investigation, wire arc additive manufactured (WAAM) specimens of alloy 36 were finish milled under different milling conditions. In addition to the machined surfaces condition and topology, the surface-near residual stresses were analysed using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Especially for low cutting speeds, significantly improved surface properties, roughness parameters and lower mechanical and microstructural degradations were found for the specimen machined with USAM compared to conventional milling. The improved surface integrity could furthermore be observed by a significant reduction of the tensile residual stresses in the surface boundary area.
Ni alloys are cost intensive materials and generally classified as difficult-to-cut materials. However, machining of these materials is needed especially in case of alloy 36 (1.3912), which is commonly used in mould construction for the production of fibre-reinforced composites. With regard to repair, modification and manufacturing of such components, additive manufacturing offers significant economic advantages. Nevertheless, subsequent machining steps are needed to achieve the final component contour and defined surface conditions. Dependent on the material and machining process conditions, detrimental tensile residual stresses may be the result on the machined surface, having negative impact on the component performance and safety. Recent studies exhibited that hybrid machining processes, such as ultrasonic-assisted milling (USAM), are suitable for achieving favourable residual stress states at the surface of difficult-to-cut Ni-Cr alloys. In this investigation, wire arc additive manufactured (WAAM) specimens of alloy 36 were finish milled under different milling conditions. In addition to the machined surfaces condition and topology, the surface-near residual stresses were analysed using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Especially for low cutting speeds, significantly improved surface properties, roughness parameters and lower mechanical and microstructural degradations were found for the specimen machined with USAM compared to conventional milling. The improved surface integrity could furthermore be observed by a significant reduction of the tensile residual stresses in the surface boundary area.
In this work, we present the recent in-situ imaging developments at the BAMline (of synchrotron BESSY II, HZB), focused on the in-situ characterization and understanding of microstructural evolution of additively manufactured materials subjected to different environments. Two show cases are presented. In the first, X-ray refraction radiography (SXRR) was combined with in-situ heat treatment to monitor the microstructural evolution as a function of temperature in a laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy. We show that SXRR allows detecting the changes in the Si-phase morphology upon heating using statistically relevant volumes. SXRR also allows observing the growth of pores (i.e., thermally induced porosity), usually studied via X-ray computed tomography (XCT), but using much smaller fields-of-view. In the second case study, XCT was combined with in-situ tensile test to investigate the damage mechanism in a LPBF Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite (MMC). In-situ SXCT test disclosed the critical role of the defects in the failure mechanism along with pre-cracks in the reinforcement phase of MMC. We found that cracks were initiated from lack-of-fusion defects and propagated through coalescence with other defects.
Additive manufacturing (AM) of metallic alloys has gained momentum in the past decade for industrial applications. The microstructures of AM metallic alloys are complex and hierarchical from the macroscopic to the nanometer scale. When using laser-based powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process, two main microstructural features emerge at the nanoscale: the melt pool boundaries (MPB) and the solidification cellular substructure.
Here, details of the MPB are revealed to clearly show the three-dimensional nature of MPBs with changes of cell growth of direction and their relation to their surrounding cellular substructure, as investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for L-PBF 316L austenitic stainless steel (cf. Figure 1). A hitherto unknown modulated substructure with a period of 21 nm is further discovered within cells as the result of a partial Ga+-focused ion beam-induced ferritic transformation of the austenite. Cell cores and cell boundaries differ notably regarding the modulated substructure.
The micromechanical behavior of an annealed Ti-6Al-4V material produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion was characterized by means of in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction during a tensile test. The lattice strain evolution was obtained parallel and transversal to the loading direction. The elastic constants were determined and compared with the conventionally manufactured alloy. In the plastic regime, a lower plastic anisotropy exhibited by the lattice planes was observed along the load axis (parallel to the building direction) than in the transverse direction.
Also, the load transfer from α to β phase was observed, increasing global ductility of the material. The material seems to accumulate a significant amount of intergranular strain in the transverse direction.
In the current study, the 3D nature of the melt pool boundaries (MPBs) in a 316 L austenitic steel additively manufactured by laser-based powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is investigated. The change of the cell growth direction and its relationship to the MPBs is investigated by transmission electron microscopy. A hitherto unreported modulated substructure with a periodicity of 21 nm is further discovered within the cell cores of the cellular substructure, which results from a partial transformation of the austenite, which is induced by a Ga+ focused ion beam. While the cell cores show the modulated substructure, cell boundaries do not. The diffraction pattern of the modulated substructure is exploited to show a thickness ≥200 nm for the MPB. At MPBs, the cell walls are suppressed, leading to continuously connecting cell cores across the MPB. This continuous MPB is described either as overlapping regions of cells of different growing directions when a new melt pool solidifies or as a narrow planar growth preceding the new melt pool.
Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies such as Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) are characterized by layer wise construction, which enable advancements of component design, with associated potential gains in performance and efficiency. However, high magnitude residual stresses (RS) are often a product of the rapid thermal cycles typical of the layerwise process. Therefore, a deep understanding of the formation of RS, the influence of process parameters on their magnitude and the impact on mechanical performance is crucial for widespread application. The experimental characterisation of these RS is essential for safety related engineering application and supports the development of reliable numerical models. Diffraction-based methods for RS analysis using neutrons and high energy X-rays enable non-destructive spatially resolved characterisation of both surface and bulk residual stresses in complex components. This presentation will provide an overview of recent research by the BAM at large scale facilities for the characterization of residual stresses in LPBF metallic alloys as a function of process parameters. In addition, the challenges posed by the textured and hierarchical microstructures of LPBF materials on diffraction-based RS analysis in AM materials will be discussed. This will include the question of the d0 reference lattice spacing and the appropriate choice of the diffraction elastic constants (DECs) to calculate the level of RS in LPBF manufactured alloys.
Contour scanning and process gas type are process parameters typically considered achieving second order effects compared to first order factors such as laser power and scanning speed. The present work highlights that contour scanning is crucial to ensure geometrical accuracy and thereby the high performance under uniaxial compression of complex Alloy 718 lattice structures. Studies of X-ray computed tomography visualizations of as-built and compression-strained structures reveal the continuous and smooth bending and compression of the walls, and the earlier onset of internal contact appearance in the denser lattices printed with contour. In contrast, the effect of addition of He to the Ar process gas appears to have limited influence on the mechanical response of the lattices and their microstructure as characterized by electron backscattered diffraction. However, the addition of He proved to significantly enhance the cooling rate and to reduce the amount of the generated spatters as evidenced by in situ monitoring of the process emissions, which is very promising for the process stability and powder reusability during laser powder bed fusion.
Abstract of the event: 'The area of New Space is a vastly growing and dynamic field with a high innovative potential and many exciting ideas. After decades where activities in space were dominated and funded mainly by governmental agencies, a new industry is forming and new business models are being developed around ideas like satellite-based internet, space travel, space mining, geo-monitoring etc. For space applications, lightweight design is crucial to keep the costs at a minimum. This Innovation Day will introduce the field of New Space and present the variety of exciting opportunities that arise for composites based on their excellent lightweight potential.' Another research area is now arising in the field of 3D printing or additive manufacturing of fiber composite materials in space. At the event, we presented on the opportunities and our experiences of using a powder based additive manufacturing process for in-space manufacturing applications.
Joining processes for components in hydrogen technologies: Current need and future importance
(2022)
This presentation gives an overview on the importance of joining processes for component fabrication in hydrogen technologies. For that reason, the current need and future research and developement activites are highlighted for the three technological fields: hydrogen storage, transport and use (in terms of the emerging field of additive manufacturing). Finally, some remarks are given for necessary changes in the standardization.
Additive manufacturing (AM) is becoming increasingly important in engineering applications due to the possibility of producing components with a high geometrical complexity allowing for optimized forms with respect to the in-service functionality. Despite the promising potential, AM components are still far from being used in safety-relevant applications, mainly due to a lack of understanding of the feedstock-process-properties-performance relationship. This work aims at providing a full characterization of the fatigue behavior of the additively manufactured AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel and a direct comparison with the fatigue performance of the wrought steel. To this purpose, a set of specimens has been produced by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and subsequently heat treated at 900 °C for 1 hour for complete stress relief, whereas a second set of specimens has been machined out of hot-rolled plates. Low cycle fatigue (LCF) and high cycle fatigue (HCF) tests have been conducted for characterizing the fatigue behavior. The L-PBF material had a higher fatigue limit and better finite life performance compared to wrought material. Both, LCF and HCF-testing revealed an extensive cyclic softening.
Al-Si alloys produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) techniques allow the fabrication of lightweight free-shape components that find space in aerospace, automotive, biomedical and military applications. Due to the high cooling rates occurring during the building process, L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloys exhibit an ultra-fine microstructure that leads to superior mechanical properties in the as-built condition compared to conventional cast Al-Si materials. Nevertheless, L-PBF processing induces high thermal gradients, leading to deleterious residual stress levels that must be considered to avoid part distortion and unpredicted failures. In order to relax detrimental residual stress and to increase the ductility, post-processing stress relief treatments are generally performed. In as-built condition the hypoeutectic AlSi10Mg microstructure consist of fine α-Al cells containing uniformly dispersed silicon nanoparticles, which are, in addition, surrounded by a eutectic Si network. Above 260°C the silicon interconnectivity starts to breakdown into spheroidized particles and to coarsen. At the same time, the heating residual stresses are relieved.
The objective of the contribution is to investigate, under different heat treatment conditions, the evolution of microstructure and residual stresses in view of optimizing the fatigue performance of the alloy. To this purpose various heat treatments in a range of temperatures between 265°C and 300°C for a duration between 15 minutes and 2 hours are performed. The microstructure modifications are analysed using a scanning electron microscope and the residual stress state is measured by laboratory X-ray diffraction.
In-space manufacturing (ISM) provides the opportunity to manufacture and repair critical components on future human spaceflight missions. For explorations to Mars and beyond, ISM is a key strategy not only due to the long travel distances and high costs of supply from earth but also to be able to safely work in space for years. Human spaceflight is still dependent on shipments from earth that can fail for several reasons. ISM is a valuable alternative to ensure the timely and safe resupply of space missions.
With additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, components are built directly from a 3D computer-aided-design (CAD) model which offers the advantages of freedom of design and the production of complex and ready-to-use parts. A virtual tool box with 3D models in space or the supply of information instead of components from earth to space can strongly benefit future missions. For industrial use, most research has focused on laser based additive manufacturing processes such as laser beam melting (LBM) where metallic powder particles are spread into a uniform powder bed and melted by a laser to the desired shape.
In the absence of gravity, the handling of metal powders, which is essential for the process, is challenging. We present an evolution of an AM system, where a gas flow throughout the powder bed is applied to stabilize the powder bed. This is needed to compensate for the missing gravitational forces in microgravity experiments on parabolic flight campaigns. The system consists of a porous building platform acting as a filter for the fixation of metal particles in a gas flow. It is driven by reduced pressure established by a vacuum pump underneath the platform. The system creates a drag force that directs the particles towards the porous building platform, similar to the effect of the gravitational force.
The AM system with its gas-flow-assisted powder deposition has been tested in several parabolic flight campaigns, and stainless-steel powder has successfully been processed during microgravity conditions. Different powder recoating mechanisms have been investigated to assess the homogeneous distribution of the powder as well as the attachment of the next layer to the powder bed. These mechanisms included different container designs with parallel double blades and with a V-shape at the bottom, and a roller recoating system. The samples presented are the first metal parts ever manufactured using LBM in μ-gravity. In addition to manufacturing in a μ-gravity environment, the experiments have shown the feasibility to manufacture components at different accelerations during the parabolic flight: hyper gravity (1.8 g), μ-gravity (< 0.01 g) and 1 g. Recent results will also be presented describing the application of this LBM setup in a parabolic flight campaign with mixed lunar, martian and µ-gravity acceleration, during which the processing of a lunar regolith simulant powder was tested.
For ISM, the development and testing of the proposed AM system demonstrates that LBM can be considered a viable technology for the manufacturing of metal and ceramic parts in a μ-gravity or reduced-gravity environment.
Additive manufacturing technologies provide unique possibilities in the production of topologically optimized, near-net shape components. The main limiting factors affecting the structural integrity of Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) parts are manufacturing defects and residual stress (RS) because both of them are virtually inevitable. Taking into account the complex thermal history of LPBF materials, a prediction of the material behavior is not possible without experimental data on the microstructure, defect distribution, and RS fields. Therefore, this thesis aims to understand the factors that influence the LPBF Ti-6Al-4V material performance the most, covering both the production and the post-processing steps of manufacturing.
Indeed, a parametric study on the influence of manufacturing process and post-processing on RS, defects and microstructure was performed. It was found that the volumetric energy Density (EV), commonly used for the LPBF process optimization, does neither consider the pore shapes and distribution, nor the influence of individual parameters on the volume fraction of pores.
Therefore, it was recommended not to use EV without great care. It was shown that the Position on the base plate has a great impact on the amount of RS in the part.
The micromechanical behavior of LPBF Ti-6Al-4V was also studied using in-situ Synchrotron X-ray diffraction during tensile and compression tests. Diffraction elastic constants (DEC), connecting macroscopic stress and (micro) strain, of the LPBF Ti-6Al-4V showed a difference
from the DEC of conventionally manufactured alloy. This fact was attributed to the peculiar microstructure and crystallographic texture. It was therefore recommended to determine experimentally DECs whenever possible.
Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) tests at a chosen operating temperature were performed to evaluate the effect of post-treatment on the mechanical performance. Through the information on the microstructure, the mesostructure, and the RS, the LCF behavior was (indirectly) correlated to the process parameters. It was found that the fatigue performance of LPBF samples subjected to hot isostatic pressing is similar to that of hot-formed Ti-6Al-4V. The tensile RS found at the
surface of LPBF as-built samples decreased the fatigue life compared to the heat-treated samples. The modification of the microstructure (by heat treatment) did not affect the Fatigue performance in the elastic regime. This shows that in the absence of tensile RS, the manufacturing defects solely control the failure of LPBF components and densification has the strongest effect on the improvement of the mechanical performance.
The insulation system of high voltage electrical devices like generators and electrical motors has to withstand thermal, electrical, ambient and mechanical influences (TEAM) during operation. Especially the dielectric properties have to satisfy the requirements also under elevated temperatures and extreme environments. To provide this high quality, the conventional fabrication process uses partly manually applied insulation tapes combined with a cost-intensive and under safety concerns at least problematic vacuum pressure impregnation step (VPI). In order to reduce process costs by increasing the degree of automation and avoiding the VPI process, additively manufactured (AM) insulations were studied. This study focuses on the fabrication of ceramic/polymer compounds via AM technique. The AM technology used a rotating screw extrusion print head with air pressure to supply the paste. Plate-like samples with dimensions of 55 mm x 55 mm x1mm thickness were produced. This work focuses on the homogeneously high viscous paste with 12.5 to 50 volume % ratio of filler particles. Three types of mica powders as ceramic filler materials with different particle sizes from micro to mm scale were evaluated. The controlled volume % ratio of particles affects the paste viscosity which enables stacking of paste layers with a viscosity close to clay pastes. The mixed pastes were cured by heating and UV light to increase mechanical properties. A TG/DTA was performed, and electrical properties were investigated. First experiments with respect to the dielectric properties such as volume resistance, permittivity and dielectric strength revealed promising results and the possibility to use AM techniques for the fabrication of high voltage insulations for electrical machines.
Long-time behavior of surface properties of microstructures fabricated by multiphoton lithography
(2021)
The multiphoton lithography (MPL) technique represents the future of 3D microprinting, enabling the production of complex microscale objects with high precision. Although the MPL fabrication parameters are widely evaluated and discussed, not much attention has been given to the microscopic properties of 3D objects with respect to their surface properties and time-dependent stability. These properties are of crucial importance when it comes to the safe and durable use of these structures in biomedical applications. In this work, we investigate the surface properties of the MPL-produced SZ2080 polymeric microstructures with regard to the physical aging processes during the post-production stage. The influence of aging on the polymeric microstructures was investigated by means of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). As a result, a time-dependent change in Young’s Modulus, plastic deformation, and adhesion and their correlation to the development in chemical composition of the surface of MPL-microstructures are evaluated. The results presented here are valuable for the application of MPL-fabricated 3D objects in general, but especially in medical technology as they give detailed information of the physical and chemical time-dependent dynamic behavior of MPL-printed surfaces and thus their suitability and performance in biological systems.
Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is an additive manufacturing process for materials which inherently tends to yield various degrees of metastable hierarchical microstructures, defects and high residual stresses in the as-built condition depending on the process parameters. The understanding of the evolution of these typical features during heat treatment and subsequent thermal and mechanical ageing is crucial for the wider acceptance for safety critical structures. A multi-disciplinary research project at BAM studying the development of the microstructure, defects, residual stresses typical of LPBF 316L and their evolution during thermal and mechanical ageing has led to insights into the stability of these inherent features. This presentation aims to give a broad overview of the project with a few specific cases of investigation. Firstly, the formation of residual stresses, the nature of the initial microstructure, the tensile properties and a modelling approach to understand the anisotropy will be presented. This will be followed by examples of studies of their evolution during heat treatment, long term thermal exposure, and room temperature and high temperature mechanical testing compared to a baseline of conventional wrought variant of the same alloy.
Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are experiencing an exceedingly rapid growth, driven by their potential through layer wise deposition for transformational improvements of engineering design, leading to efficiency and performance improvements. Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) is an Additive Manufacturing (AM) method which permits the fabrication of complex structures that cannot otherwise be produced via conventional subtractive manufacturing methods. Nevertheless, the rapid cooling rates associated with this process results in the formation of significant and complex residual stress (RS) fields. A large body of both experimental and simulation research has been dedicated in recent years to the control and mitigation of RS in AM. In order to validate simulations with the end goal of being able to model the residual stress state in AM components and to devise strategies for their reduction during manufacturing, experimental methods need to be able to accurately determine 3D residual stresses fields in complex geometries. Several destructive and non-destructive methods can be used to analyze the RS state, the choice of which depends on the geometry and the information required. Diffraction-based methods using penetrating neutron and synchrotron X-rays at large scale facilities offer the possibility to non-destructively spatially resolve both surface and bulk residual stresses in complex components and track their changes following applied thermal or mechanical loads. This presentation will overview the success stories of using large scale facilities by the BAM for the characterization of residual stresses in additively manufactured metallic alloys. In particular, the study of the influence of process parameters on the residual stress state and the relaxation of these stresses through heat treatment will be presented. However there remains challenges to overcome particularly of the hypotheses underlying the experimental determination of residual stresses, which will be discussed.
Introduction to AGIL
(2021)
Metal Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies such as Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) enable the fabrication of complex structures, giving rise to potential improvements in component and manufacturing efficiency. However, the processes are typically characterized by the generation of high magnitude residual stress (RS) which can have detrimental consequences for subsequent applications. Therefore, the characterization of these RS fields and the understanding of their formation and mitigation through optimized processing is crucial for the wider uptake of the technology. Due to the potential complex nature and high value of components manufactured by LPBF, it is important to have suitable characterisation methods which can determine the spatial variations of RS in a non-destructive manner. Neutron diffraction is considered to be the best suited for these requirements. However, the microstructures developed in the complex thermal cycles experience in the production can pose challenges to the ND method for RS analysis. The BAM has conducted significant research over the past years to overcome these obstacles, enabling higher confidence in the RS determined in LPBF materials by neutron diffraction. This contribution will overview some of these advancements made recently at European neutron sources including on Stress-Spec at FRM2/MLZ.