| 2025 №08 (02) | 2025 №08 (04) |
The Paton Welding Journal, 2025, #8, 29-36 pages
Obtaining functionally-graded metal-matrix materials Ti‒6Al‒4V + WC in the process of 3D printing by the method of additive plasma-arc deposition
V. Korzhyk1, A. Grynyuk2, O. Babych2, O. Berdnikova1, Ye. Illiashenko1, O. Bushma1
1E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the NASU. 11 Kazymyr Malevych Str., 03150, Kyiv, Ukraine. E-mail: vnkorzhyk@gmail.com2Scientific-Research Institute of Welding Technologies in Zhenjiang Province 233 Yonghui Road, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China
Abstract
The possibility of 3D printing by additive plasma-arc surfacing of three-dimensional products from composite functionally- graded metal-matrix materials, in which the matrix is the titanium alloy Ti‒6Al‒4V and the reinforcing phase is tungsten carbide, has been experimentally confirmed. The technology of additive plasma-arc deposition with simultaneous feeding of powder or filler wire of titanium alloy Ti‒6Al‒4V Grade 5 and spherical WC powder into the plasma arc allows obtaining three-dimensional samples from functionally-graded metal-matrix materials of the “wall” type, in which the content of tungsten carbide along their height varies from 0 to 50 vol.% with a corresponding change in the hardness index from HRC 32 for the lower (deep) layers and up to HRC 56‒66 and higher towards the surface layers. By selecting plasma spraying modes and energy input, it is possible to change the hardness, microstructure, and microhardness of the matrix of the material of the deposited layers, including the degree of melting of spherical WC powder particles, namely, to preserve their spherical shape with a microhardness of HV0.1 = 2172‒3796 or to achieve their partial and complete melting. In the case of preserving the spherical shape of WC particles in a matrix of titanium alloy Ti‒6Al‒4V, the presence of a metallurgical bond between them and this matrix is characteristic. It has been established that the tensile strength of the obtained materials for the case of additive deposition with Ti‒6Al‒4V filler wire with the addition of WC powder up to 50 vol.% reaches σt = 666.8 MPa, which corresponds to 75 % of the tensile strength of the Ti‒6Al‒4VBT6 Grade 5 alloy of identical chemical composition (annealed sheet), which acts as the matrix of the studied composite material. The impact strength of the samples of wall-type joints with welded layers of the composite material Ti‒6Al‒4V Grade 5 alloy + WC powder reaches up to 70–80 % of the level of this parameter of the Ti‒6Al‒4V Grade 5 titanium alloy sheet.
Keywords: 3D printing, additive plasma-arc deposition, titanium alloys, tungsten carbide, functionally-graded materials, structure, mechanical properties
Received: 13.05.2025
Received in revised form: 18.06.2025
Accepted: 07.08.2025
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