Control of crystallographic textures by metal additive manufacturing-A review

Abstract

Metal additive manufacturing (AM), a unique manufacturing method that stacks powder materials layer-by-layer to fabricate products with complex shapes and high precision, allows for a wide range of control over metallurgical microstructures. Metal AM defines solidification units with specific solidification directions and fast cooling, thereby enabling the control of the resulting metallurgical microstructure. However, the studies investigated texture control and utilizing textured microstructure are lacking in the literature. This review describes some of the results of our research on the control of crystallographic textures by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), focusing on (1) the effect of powder properties on densification and crystallographic texture formation, (2) the effect of the melt pool shape and crystallographic characteristics of the starting material on the formation and orientation of single crystals, and (3) the successful application of alloy design to the preparation of highly functional single-crystalline-like textured biological high-entropy alloys considering specific solidification fields under LPBF.