Development of strength-hardness relationships in additively manufactured titanium alloys

A major concern for additively manufactured (AM) Ti-6Al-4V components is how AM processing parameters and post-process heat treatments impact the resulting mechanical behavior. The applicability of using microhardness measurements as a predictive tool for yield and tensile strengths of AM Ti-6Al-4V would provide a rapid and useful screening mechanism for ensuring that properties meet requirements in complex geometries. However, microhardness measurements on Ti-6Al-4V exhibit high levels of data variability due to the orientational impact of the α phase. In order to overcome this variability in hardness measurements, a methodology for aggregating microhardness data in individual builds has been developed and validated. By compiling mean microhardness values from various AM components produced by electron beam based directed energy deposition (DED), laser based DED, and laser based powder bed fusion (PBF) processes in the as-deposited and post-process heat treated conditions, strong linear correlations between strength and hardness can be developed in AM materials having a lamellar α+β microstructure. With the addition of strain hardening and α phase orientation contributions to the mean microhardness measurement, the strength-hardness correlations of AM Ti-6Al-4V followed empirically derived models, opening the possibility of using these models to predict strengths from AM components regardless of the AM process or post-process state.