Determination of cell size/structures and mechanical properties of additively manufactured metallic components using X-ray technique

Abstract

Purpose

Additive manufacturing (AM), a rapidly evolving paradigm, has shown significant advantages over traditional subtractive processing routines by allowing for the custom creation of structural components with enhanced performance. Numerous studies have shown that the technical qualities of AM components are profoundly affected by the discovery of novel metastable substructures in diverse alloys. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the effect of cell structure parameters on its mechanical response.

Design/methodology/approach

Initially, a methodology was suggested for testing porous materials, focusing on static tensile testing. For a qualitative evaluation of the cellular structures produced, computed tomography (CT) was used. Then, the CT scanner was used to analyze a sample and determine its actual relative density, as well as perform a detailed geometric analysis.

Findings

The experimental research demonstrates that the mechanical properties of a cell’s structure are significantly influenced by its shape during formation. It was also determined that using selective laser melting to produce cell structures with a minimum single-cell size of approximately 2 mm would be the most appropriate method.

Research limitations/implications

Further studies of cellular structures for testing their static tensile strength are planned for the future. The study will be carried out for a larger number of samples, taking into account a wider range of cellular structure parameters. An important step will also be the verification of the results of the static tensile test using numerical analysis for the model obtained by CT scanning.

Originality/value

The fabrication of metallic parts with different cellular structures is very important with a selective laser melted machine. However, the determination of cell size and structure with mechanical properties is quiet novel in this current investigation.

Citation

Moj, K., Owsiński, R., Robak, G. and Gupta, M.K. (2023), "Determination of cell size/structures and mechanical properties of additively manufactured metallic components using X-ray technique", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 29 No. 10, pp. 2039-2060. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-02-2023-0048