Effect of Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Impact Toughness of Ti-6Al-4V Manufactured by Selective Laser Melting Process

This study manufactured Ti-6Al-4V alloy using one of the powder bed fusion 3D-printing processes, selective laser melting, and investigated the effect of heat treatment (650°C/3hrs) on microstructure and impact toughness of the material. Initial microstructural observation identified prior-β grain along the building direction before and after heat treatment. In addition, the material formed a fully martensite structure before heat treatment, and after heat treatment, α and β phase were formed simultaneously. Charpy impact tests were conducted. The average impact energy measured as 6.0 J before heat treatment, and after heat treatment, the average impact energy increased by approximately 20% to 7.3 J. Fracture surface observation after the impact test showed that both alloys had brittle characteristics on macro levels, but showed ductile fracture characteristics and dimples at micro levels.