Additive Manufacturing Materials in Engineering

🧲 Same material. Different worlds. What you’re seeing isn’t art—it’s 316 stainless steel under the microscope. 🔍 On the left: SS316 made by metal 3D printing (SLM/DMLS) 🔍 On the right: SS316 made by conventional processing It’s the same alloy, yet the microstructure—and therefore the behavior—is dramatically different. 💡 Here’s why it matters: • In Additive Manufacturing, you get columnar grains growing layer-by-layer, with ultra-fine cellular structures—great for precision, but can lead to residual stresses and anisotropy. • In Conventional SS316, you see equiaxed grains, well-balanced in all directions—great for mechanical uniformity and toughness. 🎯 What changes the microstructure? ➡️ Cooling rate ➡️ Thermal gradient ➡️ Solidification path ➡️ Process history As engineers and materials people, we often get asked: “If the composition is the same, why do properties change?” Here’s the answer—in black and white. 🔗 Curious to hear from others: Have you seen this effect play out in real applications—like heat exchangers, valves, biomedical implants? Let’s talk metallurgy. Let’s talk performance. Let’s talk future. ⚙️ #AdditiveManufacturing #MicrostructureMatters #SS316 #MaterialsScience #Metallurgy #3DPrinting #Wrought #casting #EngineeringExcellence #SLM #DMLS #shrikantsahuinsights #pentair

Our recent publication in Advanced Engineering Materials (https://lnkd.in/gNaMA7FC) is focused on the bimetallic structure of stainless steel to aluminum using wire arc additive manufacturing. Combining different materials into a bimetallic structure is a compelling activity in research and development, driven by the desire to maximize performance capabilities in a single construct. As functional design requirements become more sophisticated, so do the material combinations pursued and the manufacturing technology employed. Wire-based arc DED, a more recent addition to the metal AM family, cannot utilize the powder-based diffusion barrier technique and faces even more significant challenges in producing functional bimetallic couplings due to direct fusion bond challenges. This study focuses on creating a viable coupling of two largely incompatible and dissimilar metals through a direct fusion bond using wire-arc DED without tertiary materials, diffusion barriers, or specialized welding technology. Because wire-arc DED offers a unique, customizable, layer-by-layer build philosophy, a direct bimetallic couple between aluminum and stainless steel is produced using radial concentric deposition. This build strategy promotes simultaneous cooling between dissimilar metals to create residual hoop stresses and a mechanical interlock previously shown to enhance viability. Rather than resist and minimize the powerful forces generated by a significant mismatch in coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) for aluminum and stainless steel, concentric deposition captures that energy. Instead of preoccupation with metallurgical bonds destined to fail through inevitable intermetallic compound formation, the propensity for cracking is acknowledged but rendered non-critical through residual pressure. The mechanical permanence of radial unity between aluminum and stainless steel in a directly welded bimetallic relationship, with no intermediate bond layer or unique elemental additions, is evaluated through interfacial characterization and mechanical testing. Sections are etched for microstructural observation, cracks are measured, and hardness values are collected. Structural integrity is challenged through torsion, tension, and compression. The annular mechanical response of dissimilar metals to high thermal energy input that characterizes wire-arc DED is exploited to allow direct couplings in bimetallic structures. The full-text article can be accessed at https://lnkd.in/gEADnBme Full citation – Lile Squires, Michael B. Myers, Amit Bandyopadhyay, 2025, Radial Deposition for Mechanical Bonding of Dissimilar Metals in Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing. Advanced Engineering Materials, https://lnkd.in/gWUrrvMP #additivemanufacturing #3dprinting #wsu #metallurgy #msecoug #implants

𝗔 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗘𝗿𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗺: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗔𝗜 & 𝟯𝗗 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿-𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘆 A groundbreaking new aluminum alloy, discovered through a fusion of machine learning and 3D printing, promises to reshape industries from aerospace to automotive. Researchers at MIT have pioneered a method that merges computational simulations with AI, slashing the search through over one million potential material combinations down to just 40 candidates to identify the optimal formula. This isn't just a lab experiment; it's a potential paradigm shift. The resulting alloy is lighter, stronger, and heat-resistant, making it a prime candidate to replace heavier titanium in applications like jet engine fan blades. As lead researcher Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi, now an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University, states: "If we can use lighter, high-strength material, this would save a considerable amount of energy for the transportation industry." The innovation was brought to life using additive manufacturing. The team employed laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) 3D printing, a process whose rapid cooling rate uniquely preserves the fine, strong microstructure predicted by the AI model. "3D printing opens a new door because of the unique characteristics of the process," explains John Hart, head of MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. He sees applications extending to advanced vacuum pumps, high-end automobiles, and data center cooling devices. Testing confirmed exceptional performance: the 3D-printed alloy showed a fivefold strength increase over cast versions and was 50% stronger than alloys designed by traditional simulation alone, while maintaining stability at temperatures up to 400°C. This project, which began as a classroom challenge, demonstrates a powerful new methodology for materials science. By harnessing AI to guide discovery and 3D printing to realize complex geometries, we are entering an era of accelerated innovation. The researchers' ultimate hope? That one day, passengers looking out of an airplane window will see fan blades made from these very alloys. https://lnkd.in/eQCrJkft #aluminium #alloy #3D #titanium

[New paper] Intermediate-temperature brittleness has been a long-standing issue in additively manufactured multi-component alloys. Using the valence electron concentration-guided alloy design strategy, we designed Ni19Co38Fe20Cr20Nb3 alloy for laser powder bed fusion, where Co alloying exerts dual functional roles of concurrently tuning precipitation pathways and matrix deformability. Partial substitution of Ni with Co reduces the overall VEC of MCAs, destabilizing the incoherent and brittle D0a phase while promoting the formation of coherent L12 precipitates that remain stable even after prolonged intermediate-temperature annealing. Furthermore, Co reduces the stacking fault (SF) energy of the FCC matrix, thereby activating a spectrum of SF- and twin-mediated deformation modes including SFs, twins, hierarchical SF networks, and Lomer–Cottrell locks, facilitating a dynamic transition from intermediate-temperature brittleness to ductileness without sacrificing ambient-temperature performance. Consequently, the alloy attains an ultimate tensile strength of 1032 MPa with ∼24 % elongation at 973 K, accompanied by the formation of a compact protective oxide layer near the fracture surface. See more details in our latest paper published on Acta Materialia: https://lnkd.in/gWu_Chgz #additivemanufacturing #alloydesign #mechanicalproperty

HARNESSING METASTABILITY IN MULTIPRINCIPAL METAL ALLOYS DURING 3D MANUFACTURING Multiprincipal element alloys (MPEAs), high entropy alloys, have gained significant attention due to their exceptional mechanical and physical properties, resulted from unique chemical complexity. MPEAs are composed of multiple elements in high concentrations, particularly 3D transition metals, which extensively studied due to their remarkable strength and ductility at both room and cryogenic temperatures. In the context of additive manufacturing (AM), MPEAs present an attractive option for creating high-performance components with strength and corrosion resistance, compared to parts fabricated using traditional manufacturing methods like casting. Cornell researchers developed a method of transformations control in the metal solidification, adjusting alloy composition, resulting in stronger and more reliable metal parts. These findings provide an unprecedented view of the phase changes occurring during the 3D printing process that have significant issues due to the column-like structures formation of printed materials that weaken its specific directions. The research group found that by tweaking the composition of alloys, they can disrupt these column-like structures and produce a more uniform material by adjusting the relative amounts of Manganese and Ferrum in their starting material. The team disrupted columnar grain growth by changing the Mn content, significantly reduced grain size and improved the yield strength of the finished metal. They utilized the FeMnCoCr system as a model platform to explore alloy design in MPEAs for additive manufacturing (AM). This multifaceted approach included thermodynamic modeling, operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction, multiscale microstructural characterization, and mechanical testing to gain insights into the solidification physics and their effects on the resulting microstructure of FeMnCoCr MPEAs. The main challenge was to overcome these column-like grain structures form and grow during the printing phase change, liquid to solid state. The team overcame this problem by utilizing the Scheil-Gulliver solidification simulation  and found evidence of an intermediate phase that can help disrupt those column-like grains and refine the grain structure. The grain refinement has not been observed between MPEAs of similar composition, such as fabricated Fe30Mn50Co10Cr10 and Fe50Mn30Co10Cr10, suggesting that grain refinement is highly dependent on the solidification rate. The findings from this research can be applied to real-life scenarios to create more reliable 3D-printed metal parts in consumer products like cars or electronics, offering weight reduction, shortened manufacturing time, minimized material waste, and the creation of features that are otherwise difficult or impossible to fabricate through conventional methods. #https://lnkd.in/eMrtaiA3

Happy to share two major efforts recently published on our ongoing research efforts focused #additive manufacturing of Al6061 for #space applications. Both efforts were led by our PhD candidate Pial Das while working on a NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration funded project. So, what's new? In the first effort, we presented how different additive manufacturing strategies in particular wrought, L-DED and WAAM printed Al6061 MMCs will provide surface reliability under ambient and vacuum atmosphere. For standardization and qualification of advanced manufactured parts for space, we talk a lot about mechanical behavior but that is primarily confined to tensile, fatigue and impact behavior while providing very minimal to no concentration on their surface reliability. This effort revealed how feedstock preparation, additive manufacturing and operating environments can play crucial roles in dictating friction and wear behavior of printed Al components. Thanks to our collaborators from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and University of Cincinnati for active support in this work! Link to the paper (Applied Surface Science): https://lnkd.in/gqd-d8XQ The next effort was focused on large scale WAAM of nano-engineered Al6061 to understand the critical impact of build height on microstructure and mechanical behavior of printed parts. We found some interesting phenomena that dominated the tensile behavior which were later correlated with local material states and defect population. Thanks to University of Cincinnati and Fastech LLC for their support in the effort. Link to the paper (Materials Science & Engineering-A): https://lnkd.in/ga4H-6jX Both of these investigations are continued efforts to our work published last year: https://lnkd.in/gn4-ApNc Pial Das K R Ramkumar, Ph.D. Roman Savinov Annette Gray William W. Scott Matthew Mazurkivich Yashwanth Bandari #advancedmanufacturing #aluminum #space #Microstructure #surface Iowa State University - Mechanical Engineering