3D electron backscatter diffraction study of α lath morphology in additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V

Ryan DeMott; Peter Collins; Charlie Kong; Xiaozhou Liao; Simon Ringer; Sophie Primig

doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2020.113073

3D electron backscatter diffraction study of α lath morphology in additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V

Ultramicroscopy. 2020 Nov:218:113073. doi: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2020.113073. Epub 2020 Jul 15.

Authors

Ryan DeMott¹, Peter Collins², Charlie Kong³, Xiaozhou Liao⁴, Simon Ringer⁴, Sophie Primig⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science & Engineering, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames 50011, IA, USA.
³ Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁴ School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, University of Sydney, Australia.
⁵ School of Materials Science & Engineering, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. Electronic address: s.primig@unsw.edu.au.

PMID: 32736318
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2020.113073

Abstract

Titanium alloys exhibit complex, multi-phase microstructures which form during liquid-solid and solid-solid phase transformations. These phase transformations govern the microstructural evolution and are potentially more complex during additive manufacturing due to large thermal gradients and inhomogeneities. The prototypical fundamental unit of titanium microstructures are the α laths, and investigations into their three-dimensional morphology may provide new insights. A prior β-grain boundary, 3-variant clusters and interconnected laths were studied in 3D in electron-beam printed Ti-6Al-4V using a plasma FIB. These key features are of interest for studying variant selection in additive manufacturing.

Keywords: 3D reconstruction; 3D-EBSD; Additive manufacturing; Electron beam methods; Titanium alloys; electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD).