Refine
Document Type
- Doctoral thesis (2)
Has Fulltext
- yes (2)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (2)
Language
- English (2)
Keywords
- Lichtbogen (2) (remove)
Institute
Among variants of AM technology, wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process suitably produces bulky metal parts with a medium complexity. Although WAAM shows a great potential, this process has not been fully explored, and it is therefore a worthwhile subject to further investigate. This monograph engages with tool path planning for the WAAM process and existing problems in WAAM are subsequently addressed, as following:
The existing overlapping models yield an uneven surface due to the inner beads overlapping with two neighbor beads while the outers have only a one-sided overlap. New mathematical models are established to obtain optimal distances between adjacent weld beads and to make surfaces more even.
Lightweight structures have high strength as compared to their weight. Producing these structures by WAAM results in imperfections because of uneven weld beads - an inevitable phenomenon when starting a new track. A new tool path strategy to produce lightweight structures is developed using contour patterns, which transforms any arbitrary geometry into that of a continuous path. Unfortunately, voids are formed at junctions when using contour patterns. An adaptive correction using machine learning is then developed to overcome this defect.
Large overhangs and inclined features are out of reach of WAAM when operating in the x-y plane in Cartesian system. This limits the ability of the WAAM process. To overcome that, each overhang feature should be welded with a distinct direction. This approach is realized within the robot based WAAM process. Establishing the kinematics of the FANUC robot arm and the positioner helps compute the new coordinates, the angular displacements of the positioner, and the orientation of the torch. The proposed strategy is examined through the construction of an overhang part.
The capabilities of the multi-axis deposition are extended by constructing curved thin-walled structures. Irregular thickness layers are deposited by controlling the travel speed, resulting in a different deposition rate. The curved thin-walled structures can be properly fabricated by combining a multi-axis deposition with non-uniform thickness layers. Bonding quality as well as geometric accuracy are also to be investigated. To ensure geometric accuracy, a compensation strategy is developed. The performance of the proposed algorithm is validated on different geometries.
This monograph will conclude with a summary of this work’s main achievements and contributions as well as outlooks on future research.
Titanium and its alloys have been widely used as implant biomaterials due to their suitable combination of mechanical properties and biological compatibilities. At present, about 70-80% of implants are made of metallic biomaterials. Compared with magnesium alloys, stainless steel and cobalt alloys, titanium alloys have a higher specific strength, high corrosion resistance, and excellent biocompatibility. With research, Ti-Nb biomedical titanium alloys have been constantly developed. In the Ti-Nb alloy, the amount of Nb is usually from 16% to 42% (wt.%) which is about 10% to 30% (at.%). As reported, Mn as a trace element to the human body has the potential to be used in bio-materials. Therefore, this study aims at the partial replacement of Nb by Mn to reduce the costs, without deteriorating the mechanical properties. Moreover, it must be ensured good biocompatibility and corrosion resistance. This is the first investigated on Ti-Mn-Nb ternary alloys.
In this work, According to β single-phase field, Ti-xMn-yNb (x=4, 10, 16; y=2, 8, 14, at.%) alloys (arc-melted) have been fabricated. The Ti-Mn-Nb alloys are investigated by optical microscopy (OM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), hardness test, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and mechanical testing. By screening study on alloy, Ti-10Mn-14Nb (at.%) (Ti-10Mn-23.7Nb (wt.%)) is the optimal alloy with tensile strength (760 MPa) and elongation (10.5%). After that, the Metal Injection Moulding (MIM) is used to prepare Ti-Mn-Nb alloys. The MIM method can greatly reduce the processing cost. MIM Ti-xMn-yNb (x=3, 4, 6; y=1, 2, 4, at.%), Ti-4Mn-14Nb and Ti-10Mn-14Nb alloys are fabricated. Among them, a very good combination of mechanical properties is achieved for MIM processed Ti-4Mn-2Nb (at.%) (Ti-4.5Mn-3.8Nb (wt.%)), namely a YS of 642 MPa, UTS of 725 MPa and high ductility of 16% elongation to fracture. With further investigations, when the yttrium content is 0.1% (at.%), the tensile strength of Ti-4Mn-2Nb-0.1Y (at.%) (Ti-4.5Mn-3.8Nb-0.18Y (wt.%)) is increased to 785 MPa while elongation of 12.9%. These mechanical properties already exceed Ti-6Al-4V (ASTM F2885 Grade 5 undensified).
In the in vitro evaluation, in comparison with MIM pure titanium, human osteoblasts MG63 adhered as well and proliferated on the surface of MIM Ti-Mn-Nb specimens. In the supernatant after cell culture, the Ti-Mn-Nb alloy shows similar osmolality and pH value results as MIM pure titanium. By LDH assay and DNA isolation, the MIM Ti-Mn-Nb alloys are not found to be toxic to MG63 cells.
In the study of corrosion resistance in Hanks’ balanced salt solution (HBSS) at 37 °C, the corrosion current densities as well as the impedance of MIM Ti-Mn-Nb alloys are all better than those of MIM pure titanium and even better than those of MIM Ti-6Al-4V alloy.