Oxygen and nitrogen concentrations in the Ti-6Al-4V alloy manufactured by direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process

Two machines from two scientific centers (Russia and South Africa) were used for the manufacturing of the Ti6Al4V alloys by the direct metal laser sintering. The chemical composition of powders complies with the ASTM F-136 (grade 5), ASTM B348 (grade 23) standard for medical applications. Analysis of the oxygen and nitrogen contamination in DMLS alloys was done with Van de Graaff accelerator with two Mega Volts. It is found that structures of the samples manufactured with two different machines used the same regimes are close to each other. TEM studies found the metastable martensitic structure and silicon nitride Si3N4. It was found that the oxygen and nitrogen contents in both samples are within the normal range for medical grade titanium alloys.