Electron Beam-Melting and Laser Powder Bed Fusion of Ti6Al4V: Transferability of Process Parameters

Metal powder bed-based Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies, such as Electron Beam-Melting (EBM) and Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), are established in several industries due to the large design freedom and mechanical properties. While EBM and LPBF have similar operating steps, process-specific characteristics influence the component design. The differences in the energy coupling lead to differing solidification conditions, microstructures, and, thus, mechanical properties. The surface finish and geometrical accuracy are also affected. As opposed to LPBF, EBM powder layers are preheated prior to selective melting. In this study, similar volume energy densities in LPBF and EBM were used to manufacture Ti6Al4V test geometries to assess the process transferability. Since the energy coupling of LPBF and EBM differ, heat source absorption was considered when calculating the volume energy density. Even when a similar volume energy density was used, significant differences in the component quality were found in this study due to specific respective process constraints. The extent of these constrains was investigated on voluminous samples and support-free overhanging structures. Overhang angles up to 90 degrees were manufactured with LPBF and EBM, and characterized with regard to the relative density, surface roughness, and geometric compliance.