Characterization and comparison of materials produced by Electron Beam Melting (EBM) of two different Ti–6Al–4V powder fractions

Electron Beam Melting (EBM) has been recognized as a revolutionary technique to produce mass-customized parts to near-net-shape from various metallic materials. The technique produces parts with unique geometries from a powder stock material and uses an electron beam to melt the powder layer-by-layer to fully solid structures. In this study we have investigated the use of two different Ti–6Al–4V powders of different size fractions in the EBM process; a larger 45–100 μm powder, and a smaller 25–45 μm powder. We have also investigated the effects of two build layer thicknesses, 70 μm and 50 μm, respectively. We hypothesize that the smaller powder has the potential to improve surface resolution of parts produced in the EBM process. The EBM as-built parts were investigated regarding surface and bulk chemistry, surface oxide thickness, macro- and microstructure, surface appearance and mechanical properties. We conclude from the results that both powders and both build layer thicknesses are feasible to use in the EBM process. The investigated material properties were not significantly affected by powder size or layer thickness within the studied range of process parameters. However, the surface appearance was found to be different for the samples made with the different powder sizes.