Selective laser alloying of elemental titanium and boron powder: Thermal models and experiment verification

The purpose of this article was to introduce the concept of selective laser alloying (SLA) to print 3D parts directly from elemental powders, and report findings on an investigation of the governing thermal models of the process. Considering the effects of exothermic reaction between Ti and B during the alloying process, thermal models with three group of parameters were developed to predict the phenomena induced in the selective laser alloying process. To validate these models, a series of experiments, with different molar ratios between Ti and B, were conducted on Renishaw AM250 using premixed elemental Ti and B powders. The experiments validated the SLA concept and the results matched consistently with the models' predictions, which validated the models.