Fe-Al thin walls manufactured by Laser Engineered Net Shaping

Abstract We present an additive manufacturing of thin-walled Fe-Al samples using the Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) technique. Samples in the form of thin walls, ranging from 0.5 to 5 mm in thickness, were manufactured, and their properties were investigated. Cooling rates during deposition were estimated and correlated with the resulting microstructure and properties. It was found that building 0.5 mm walls results in relatively low cooling rates, which led to the formation of the DO 3 type crystal structure, and the B2 structure was found for thicker wall samples. Directly fabricated Fe-Al thin-walled structures were found to possess high metallurgical quality in terms of porosity, but despite their good overall visual appearance, very large cracks were observed after the manufacturing process, which disqualifies them for use in the fabrication process of any mechanical parts.