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High fatigue resistance in a titanium alloy via near-void-free 3D printing

Nature volume 626, pages 999–1004 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

The advantage of 3D printing—that is, additive manufacturing (AM) of structural materials—has been severely compromised by their disappointing fatigue properties1,2. Commonly, poor fatigue properties appear to result from the presence of microvoids induced by current printing process procedures3,4. Accordingly, the question that we pose is whether the elimination of such microvoids can provide a feasible solution for marked enhancement of the fatigue resistance of void-free AM (Net-AM) alloys. Here we successfully rebuild an approximate void-free AM microstructure in Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy by development of a Net-AM processing technique through an understanding of the asynchronism of phase transformation and grain growth. We identify the fatigue resistance of such AM microstructures and show that they lead to a high fatigue limit of around 1 GPa, exceeding the fatigue resistance of all AM and forged titanium alloys as well as that of other metallic materials. We confirm the high fatigue resistance of Net-AM microstructures and the potential advantages of AM processing in the production of structural components with maximum fatigue strength, which is beneficial for further application of AM technologies in engineering fields.

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Fig. 1: Microvoid distribution and microstructure of as-printed state and three others.
Fig. 2: Tensile and fatigue properties of our alloys compared with those of other Ti-6Al-4V alloys.
Fig. 3: Evaluation on the fatigue strength and specific fatigue strength of the Net-AM microstructure in comparison with other microstructures and materials.
Fig. 4: Fatigue cracking modes and corresponding microstructural information.

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Data availability

The core data generated and analysed during the current study are all included in this article and its Supplementary Information file, which contains eight figures and 11 tables. Data above 15 GB leading to the core data used for Fig. 2 and Extended Data Fig. 1 are available from the corresponding authors. Source data are provided with this work.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant nos. 52322105, 52321001, U2241245, 52130002, 52261135634 and 52371084; the Youth Innovation Promotion Association (CAS, no. 2021192); the National Key R&D Program of China (nos. 2023YFB4606604, 2020YFA0710404); the KC Wong Education Foundation (no. GJTD-2020-09); the International Joint Research Project of CAS (no. 172GJHZ2022030MI); the IMR Innovation Fund (no. 2023-ZD01); the Liaoning ‘Unveiling and Commandingʼ Science and Technology Plan (no. 2022-37); and by funding from Shi Changxu Innovation Center for Advanced Materials.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, PR China

    Zhan Qu, Zhenjun Zhang, Rui Liu, Yining Zhang, Xiaotao Li, Zhenkai Zhao, Qiqiang Duan, Shaogang Wang, Shujun Li, Yingjie Ma, Xiaohong Shao, Rui Yang & Zhefeng Zhang

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Shenyang, PR China

    Zhan Qu, Zhenjun Zhang, Rui Yang & Zhefeng Zhang

  3. Shenyang Institute of Engineering, Shenyang, PR China

    Ling Xu

  4. Center for Adaptive System Engineering, School of Creativity and Art, Shanghai Tech University, Shanghai, PR China

    Rui Yang

  5. Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Leoben, Austria

    Jürgen Eckert

  6. Department of Materials Science, Montanuniveristät Leoben, Leoben, Austria

    Jürgen Eckert

  7. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Robert O. Ritchie

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Contributions

Z.Q. and Zhenjun Zhang conceived and designed the experiments, analysed fatigue fracture behaviour and experimental data and designed the draft manuscript. Z.Q. carried out main material preparation, microstructure characterization and mechanical testing and drafted the original manuscript. Zhenjun Zhang and R.L. polished the structure and language of the article. L.X. and X.L. participated in discussions. Y.Z. helped with residual stress testing. Z. Zhao verified fatigue data. Q.D. assisted in conducting fatigue experiments. S.W. conducted X-ray computed tomography experiments. S.L. and Y.M. helped with material preparation. X.S. assisted with TEM experiments. R.Y., J.E., R.O.R. and Zhefeng Zhang revised the manuscript. Zhenjun Zhang and Zhefeng Zhang supervised the project and acquired funding. Zhefeng Zhang provided comprehensive support. All authors reviewed the manuscript and contributed to the discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zhenjun Zhang, Robert O. Ritchie or Zhefeng Zhang.

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Nature thanks Ali Fatemi and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Fig. 1 Fine characterization and statistical analysis of the as-printed microstructure and the NAMP microstructure.

(a1, b1) EBSD IPF maps of α laths and prior β grains along the build direction Z0 based on Figs. 1(a2, d2). (a2, b2) Distribution and statistical histograms of the Schmid factor along the Z0 direction; Selected <a> type slip system: Slip direction, <11-20>; Slip plane, (0002), {10-10}, {10-11}. (a3, b3) IPF maps, (a4, b4) phase maps and (a5, b5) the corresponding geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density images of on-axis TKD. (a6, b6) Bright-field (BF) TEM micrographs and (a7, b7) the TEM-SAED patterns obtained on the lath marked in Figs. (a6, b6). (a8, b8) The HR-TEM images with the corresponding fast Fourier transformation (FFT) patterns of the α/β interface. (a9, b9) STEM-HAADF images and (a10, b10) with corresponding STEM-EDS mapping, where the average overall chemical compositions obtained in the STEM-EDS maps are 13.12 at.% Al, 4.12 at.% V, 0.32 at.% Fe and Ti balance for the two states. (a11, b11) Compositional profiles recorded across the yellow arrow in Figs. (a9, b9). (a12-a15, b12-b15) Histograms and the fitted normal distribution curves of prior β grains, α laths, β phase and the maximum element segregation in the β phase. The above results indicate that the overall microstructure characteristics between the as-printed state and the NAMP state are very similar.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 2 Enlightenment of this study for the AM technology.

I: The Net-AM material has exceptionally high fatigue resistance. II: Researchers and engineers in optimizing the printing processes (OPP) and optimizing the post-treatments (OPT) can also achieve ultra-high fatigue properties respectively through continuously reducing voids and further refining microstructure. III: A different direction is presented for fatigue-resistant AM, i.e., rough printing process + refined NAMP treatment.

Extended Data Table 1 Technological route of the NAMP treatment
Full size table
Extended Data Table 2 Comparison of microstructure characteristics between the as-printed state and NAMP state
Full size table

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Notes 1–4, Figs 1–8, Tables 1–11 and references.

Peer Review File

Supplementary Video 1

In situ observation of the grain boundary migration and growth process of AM and forged Ti-6Al-4V using VL2000DX-SVF18SP ultrahigh-temperature laser confocal microscopy. The grain growth rate of the AM Ti-6Al-4V was 2.7-fold that of forged alloy at 1,400 °C, indicating that the grain boundaries produced by AM have a slower migration velocity than those developed from traditional forging.

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Qu, Z., Zhang, Z., Liu, R. et al. High fatigue resistance in a titanium alloy via near-void-free 3D printing. Nature 626, 999–1004 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07048-1

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