Research Projects

Additive manufacturing (AM) is gaining popularity due to its lower production time and material wastage compared to conventional methods. Titanium and its alloys, particularly Ti-6Al-4V, are primarily fabricated using AM due to their low density, high strength, corrosion resistance, and superior biocompatibility. However, the rapid solidification rate during laser deposition results in a fine microstructure, which can lead to anisotropy due to creep strength decreases at high temperatures. This study focuses on the bending creep behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy, as conventional uniaxial creep tests require large volumes of material and limits feasibility. Bending creep testing, with microstructural characterization and numerical calculations, is being used to better understand the deformation mechanism. The main advantage of DIC-augmented-bending creep is its high throughput, allowing for faster optimization of additive manufacturing parameters. Bending creep measures the difference between inherent plasticity and compression, and there is limited literature on the bending creep behavior of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The project proposal presents short-term creep exposure data and microstructural correlation with conventional Ti-6Al-4V alloy.