Rapid Manufacturing of Cellular Structures of Steel or Titaniumalumide

The Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technique is used to produce different cellular structures. Regular unit cells are placed in tensile bars to determine the mechanical performance of different lattice structures. The mechanical properties of the tensile bars with lattice structures are compared to fully dense tensile bars. Tensile bars are produced by conventional casting to compare the mechanical properties between SLM and casting. To exclude other influences, the whole process chain starting from the powder to the finished part is characterized. The different powders, namely 1.4404 steel powder and a titaniumaluminde (Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb [TiAl]) powder are characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy disperse x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), chemical analysis and light microscopy (LM). In addition measurements of the particle size distribution are conducted. Detailed experimental conditions of the SLM-process are given.