Laser metal deposition of functionally graded Ti6Al4V/TiC

Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are advanced materials with improved properties that enable them to withstand severe working environment which the traditional composite materials cannot withstand. FGM found their applications in several areas which include: military, medicine and aerospace. Various manufacturing processes are used to produce functionally graded materials that include: powder metallurgy, physical vapour deposition, chemical vapour deposition process and laser metal deposition process. Laser metal deposition (LMD) process is an additive manufacturing process that can be used to produce functionally graded material directly from the three dimensional (3D) computer aided design (CAD) model of the part in one single process. LMD process is a fairly new manufacturing process and a highly non-linear process. The process parameters are of great importance in LMD process and they need to be optimized for the required application. In this study, functionally graded titanium alloy composite was produced using optimized process parameters for each material combination as obtained through a model that was developed in an initial study and the FGM was characterized through metallurgical, mechanical and tribological studies. The results show that the produced FGM has improved properties when compared to those produced at constant processing parameters for all material combinations.