COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LASER METAL DEPOSITION (LMD) OF COAXIAL WIRE AND POWDER IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TI-6AL-4V STRUCTURES

Abstract

The aeronautical sector has begun to bet on additive manufacturing as an alternative for the manufacture of titanium components. In this sense, the Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) is presented as a direct deposition technology of great potential, mainly for the manufacture of large structural components. The deposition of material in powder form is the most used method, however, the heads of coaxial deposition of wire developed in the last years allow, a priori, to manufacture structures with a better efficiency and feeding rate. In this work a comparative study is carried out between the processes of laser deposited coaxial wire and powder in order to verify the highest deposition rates and efficiencies of the wire feed. For this purpose, several walls have been deposited with the highest deposition rate achieved in a parametric search for both wire and powder format and the difference between the material fed and the material deposited has been calculated. The two formats have also been analysed in terms of microstructural and geometric quality. It is observed that wire exceeds powder in terms of deposition rates and efficiency. However, geometric limitations and more unfavourable microstructural structures can be seen. Keywords: LMD, Ti-6Al-4V, additive manufacturing, wire, powder, coaxial.