Product Code: ICAL09_1005

A Method and Model for Deposition of TI-6Al-4V with Controlled Porosity
Authors:
Muhammad Naveed Ahsan, Manufacturing and Laser Processing Group,The University of Manchester; Manchester Great Britain
Andrew J Pinkerton, Manufacturing and Laser Processing Group,The University of Manchester; Manchester Great Britain
Presented at ICALEO 2009

The use of porous engineered materials is gaining popularity in biomedical implant manufacture due to its capability to promote increased osseointegration and cell proliferation. A method to produce such parts is laser direct metal deposition (LDMD) - a rapid manufacturing technique that has much flexibility. In this work, a 1.5 kW high power diode laser with coaxial powder feed nozzle has been used to manufacture a number of porous multilayer structures. Titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V is used as substrate and deposition material. Design of Experiment (DoE) techniques are employed to study the effect of process variables like laser power, scanning speed, powder feed rate and track offset distance. It is found that by optimizing the deposited track width and track offset distance, the porosity can be controlled. An analytical model for direct laser deposition to account for the interaction of multiple tracks in a porous structure has also been developed and model results are compared with the experiments.