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Magnesium and its alloys remain perilous in the framework of light weighting and advanced devices structure such as rockets and satellites. However, the utilization of Magnesium (Mg) is increasing every year, revealing growing demands in manufacturing industries. Manufacturing of Mg components is challenging because of their HCP crystal structure and limited ductility. In this context, additive manufacturing (AM) provides the flexibility to manufacture complex shape components with excellent dimensional stability. It also provides a new possibility for utilizing novel component structures that increase the applications for Mg alloy. This review herein pursues to holistically explore the additive manufacturing of Mg alloy with a synopsis of processes used and microstructure, mechanical properties, corrosion behaviour and postprocessing of AMed Mg alloy. The challenges and future scope of AMed Mg alloys are critically explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Current work reports on the development of A357 alloy composite which is reinforced with dual size SiC particles by stir casting route. Influence of different weight fractions (3% coarse+ 3% fine, 4% coarse + 2% fine, and 2% coarse + 4% fine) of dual size SiC particles on mechanical properties and wear resistance of A357 composites is the focus of this work. Hardness and tensile properties were studied for dual size composites and then were compared with A357 alloy. Microstructural study, fractured surface and worn surface investigation were carried out using optical and scanning electron microscopes respectively. Microstructural analysis showed fairly uniform dispersion of dual size SiC particles in A357 matrix with good interfacial bonding. Compared to A357 alloy, the composites showed improvement in hardness, yield, and tensile strength. In particular, composite with 4 wt. % of fine and 2 wt. % of large SiC particles displayed the highest tensile strength while composite with 4 wt. % of large and 2 wt. % of fine SiC particles exhibited high hardness and wear resistance among A357 alloy and dual particle size composites. The strengthening mechanisms that contributed to improvement in strength values were effective load transfer and dislocation strengthening due to thermal mismatch. Highlights • Uniform dispersion of dual size SiC particles in A357 matrix. • Continuous interface and good bonding between A357 matrix and dual size SiC particles. • Significant improvement in hardness and mechanical properties of dual size composites compared to A357 alloy. • Improvement in wear resistance of dual size composites compared to A357 alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on understanding the effect of scan strategy on the microstructure and mechanical properties of LDED fabricated IN718 built at optimized process conditions from single track analysis. Initially, single track studies were conducted by varying laser power, scan speed, and feed rate (3 levels) to optimize process parameters for bulk deposition. Based on the dilution, aspect ratio, track continuity and melt pool shape, best process parameter were chosen for depositing bulk structures. Bulk rectangular specimens were fabricated using the LDED process for different infill rotation (0°, 45°, 67°, and 90°) at optimized process conditions. Infill rotation did not show any significant change in the density of the samples. However, grain size measurement from EBSD and SEM micrographs revealed a substantial difference in grain size between samples without infill rotation (0°) and samples with infill rotation (45°, 67°, and 90°). XRD and EDS mapping revealed higher the formation of secondary laves phases with infill rotation as a result of higher cooling rate. Similarly, melt pool shape and arrangement showed significant variation with different infill angles. Samples with 0° and 90° infill rotation exhibited strong crystallographic texture along the build direction. There was a significant variation in the microhardness and tensile strength of the build with variation in infill rotation. This variation in mechanical properties were attributed to grain size, LAGB's fraction, secondary phases, and crystallographic texture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work is to study the effect of heat treatment on the microstructure, phase transformations, shape memory characteristics and corrosion behaviour of laser deposited equiatomic NiTi alloy. Dense samples of NiTi alloy were fabricated using Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS™) with two different laser energy densities by varying the scan speed and laser power. These samples were annealed for 30 min at 500 °C and 1000 °C in flowing argon, followed by furnace-cooling to room temperature. The resulting microstructures and properties were compared with the corresponding as-deposited samples. Microstructural analysis after heat treatment showed needle-shape martensite in the samples processed at lower laser energy density of 20 J/mm 2 , and lenticular or plate-like martensite in the samples processed at 80 J/mm 2 . The XRD results revealed relatively high concentration of martensite (B19′) in heat-treated NiTi alloy compared to as-processed samples. Furthermore, the heat treatment decreased the forward and reverse transformation temperatures of NiTi alloy from 80 – 95 °C to 20–40 °C, presumably due to annihilation of thermally induced defects. Interestingly, the samples annealed at 500 °C showed a measurable increase of 1–2% in the shape memory recovery, from the net recovery of 8% exhibited by the as-processed NiTi alloy. The corrosion resistance of laser-processed NiTi alloy decreased upon annealing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]