Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
  • C22C—ALLOYS
  • C22C14/00—Alloys based on titanium
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B33—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
  • B33Y—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
  • B33Y70/00—Materials specially adapted for additive manufacturing
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
  • B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
  • B22F10/00—Additive manufacturing of workpieces or articles from metallic powder
  • B22F10/20—Direct sintering or melting

Definitions

• 3-D printing technology has advanced into mainstream manufacturing for polymer based material systems and has caused a revolution in computer based manufacturing.
• Polymers based 3-D manufacturing maturation started with basic printing technology and existing polymer formulations. As it matured, the technology and polymer formulations evolved synergistically to deliver desired performance.
• Metals based 3-D printing is less mature but is beginning to follow a rapid growth curve.
• the metals printing technologies have narrowed primarily to powder-bed printing systems based on e-beam, and laser direct melt and binder-jet technologies. Due to being in the early stages of maturation, little has been done to customize alloy composition to optimize overall 3-D manufactured part performance. Of the alloys being applied, alloys such as titanium are among the least mature in this respect.
• a major cost driver for all three primary 3-D manufacturing methods for titanium parts is the cost of titanium powder.
• the powder bed printing methods utilize a build box in which the component is built up layer by layer from powder. At completion, the build box is full of powder and the component produced is within the box filled with the powder. After printing, the loose powder is removed from around the part and finishing operations are performed on the part. Since often only a small fraction of the powder in the build box is incorporated into the part, there is a significant incentive to recycle the excess high cost powder.
• Ti-6AI-4V ASTM Grade 5 with a maximum allowable oxygen content of 0.2 wt%.
• a more challenging grade of Ti-6AI-4V is Grade 23 with a much lower oxygen limit of 0.13 wt%. Since manufacturers want to start with as low an oxygen content in the powder as possible to enable the maximum number of re-use cycles for the powder before the oxygen content exceeds the specification limit, Ti-6AI-4V, Grade 23 represents a greater challenge to powder recycling than Ti-6AI-4V, Grade 5.
• Ti-6A1- 4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy also referred to in this disclosure as "Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy” or "Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+” having the following composition by weight percent: Aluminum - 6.0 wt% to 6.5 wt%; Vanadium - 4.0 wt% to 4.5 wt%; Iron - 0.15 wt% to 0.25 wt%; Oxygen - 0.00 wt% to 0.10 wt%; Nitrogen - 0.01 wt% to 0.03 wt%; Carbon - 0.04 wt% to 0.08 wt%; Hydrogen - 0.0000 wt% to 0.0125 wt%; Other
• balance refers to the remaining wt% which when added to the wt% of all the other components results in a total of 100%.
• Tianium - Balance indicates that Titanium is the remaining component and that all the components added together results in 100 wt%.
• the enhanced strength Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy can have 0.00 wt% to 0.10 wt% Oxygen (as described above); 0.00 wt% to 0.06 wt% Oxygen; 0.01 wt% to 0.10 wt% Oxygen; or 0.01 wt% to 0.06 wt% oxygen.
• the enhanced strength Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy described in any aspect of this disclosure can be a powder alloy; or a starting bar stock.
• the enhanced strength Ti-6A1- 4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy described in any aspect of this disclosure can have less than or equal to 0.10 wt% Oxygen, and, at the same time, having the same or greater strength as a Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 alloy.
• the Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ alloy results from controlling the following combination of elements in the Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 alloy: Aluminum; Iron; Nitrogen; and Carbon. That is, the combination of the elements can be, for example, Aluminum - 6.0 wt% to 6.5 wt%; Iron - 0.15 wt% to 0.25 wt%; Nitrogen - 0.01 wt% to 0.03 wt%; and Carbon - 0.04 wt% to 0.08 wt%.
• Another aspect related to a method of increasing the strength or reducing the oxygen content of Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 titanium alloy to produce Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy comprising adjusting the following combination of elements in the Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 alloy: Aluminum; Iron; Nitrogen; and Carbon.
• Adjusting the combination in this disclosure refers to adjusting the wt%, including adjusting the wt% to zero, of an element.
• adjusting the combination includes adjusting
• adjusting the combination includes adjusting to the following wt%: Aluminum - 6.0 wt% to 6.5 wt%; Vanadium - 4.0 wt% to 4.5 wt%; Iron - 0.15 wt% to 0.25 wt%; Oxygen - 0.00 wt% to 0.10 wt%; Nitrogen - 0.01 wt% to 0.03 wt%; Carbon - 0.04 wt% to 0.08 wt%; Hydrogen - 0.0000 wt% to 0.0125 wt%; Other Elements, each - 0.0 wt% to 0.1 wt%; Other Elements, total - 0.0 wt% to 0.4 wt%; and Titanium - Balance.
• other elements refer to one or more elements other than the elements listed in the formula, composition or claim being discussed. "Other elements, each" refers to a single element which is one element which is not listed in the formula, composition or claim being discussed.
• adjusting the combination of elements may contain an optional step performed before, after, or during other adjustments.
• the optional step is adjusting the oxygen wt% of the final composition - that is, adjusting the composition of Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 to produce Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+.
• the oxygen wt% may be 0.00 wt% to 0.10 wt% Oxygen; 0.00 wt% to 0.06 wt% Oxygen; 0.01 wt% to 0.10 wt% Oxygen; or 0.01 wt% to 0.06 wt% oxygen.
• One aspect of the methods and composition of this disclosure is that an improved alloy, Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy, is produced.
• the Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy has the same strength as the Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 titanium alloy but with a lower oxygen content.
• an alloy which is stronger than Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 titanium alloy is product - this stronger alloy being Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy.
• this stronger alloy does not contain more oxygen wt% than that of Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 titanium alloy.
• Another aspect of the methods and composition of this disclosure is that both effects are seen.
• the method increases the strength of Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 titanium alloy to produce Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy, and, wherein the Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium alloy is stronger but has the same or less oxygen wt% than the Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 titanium alloy.
• Table 1 illustrates the standard chemical composition specification for the Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 alloy as defined in the ASTM B348 specification.
• Oxygen is typically used to enhance strength because it is easy and as a single element it has a significant effect on strength.
• Other potential strength enhancers include aluminum, iron, nitrogen and carbon. Nitrogen is a more potent strengthener than oxygen but the allowed level is much lower. The other elements in this group have lesser effects on strength. Applicants hypothesize that these elements are not significantly affected by the 3-D printing process, and a controlled combination of these elements within the Grade 23 specification can achieve the same strength enhancing results as oxygen enhancement.
• Table 1 Composition of Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 titanium alloy as defined in the ASTM B348 specification.
• Table 2 illustrates this novel composition - the Carpenter specification for Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium powder alloy.
• This Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ titanium powder alloy comprises aluminum, iron, nitrogen and carbon composition ranges that, when combined, provide the desired strength enhancement in the alloy without a high initial oxygen content. Therefore, the baseline strength of 3-D printed Ti-6A1-4V parts made with Carpenter Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23+ would be the same as higher oxygen Ti-6A1-4V Grade 23 parts but would have the lower oxygen desired for maximum re-use of the powder. Based on predictive modeling the strength of Grade 23+ can approach that of Ti-6A1-4V Grade 5. The strength would further increase as the powder picked up oxygen because of the re-use resulting in an overall higher strength curve and a significantly lower cost of production.
• Table 2 Grade 23+, Improved Strength Low Oxygen Ti-6A1-4V Powder Vanadium 4.0 4.5

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• 2018
  • 2018-07-18 EP EP18835350.2A patent/EP3655558A4/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2018-07-18 US US16/038,284 patent/US20190024217A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2018-07-18 CN CN201880052640.3A patent/CN110997957A/zh active Pending
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