Faculty Publications
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Item Effect of Process Parameters on Track Geometry and Porosity in Laser Direct Energy Deposition of High Strength Aluminum Alloy(Springer, 2024) Balla, S.K.; Manjaiah, M.; Selvaraj, N.; Bontha, S.Laser Directed Energy Deposition (LDED) is a metal Additive Manufacturing (Metal AM) process that has attracted significant attention due to its ability to produce complex geometries with material properties comparable to cast and wrought parts. High-strength aluminum alloys especially 2xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx series are difficult to fabricate using LDED process since these alloys are prone to hot cracking due to rapid solidification during the LDED process. The focus of this work is to evaluate the effect of LDED process parameters on track geometry and porosity of Al7075 powder. The effects of process parameters such as laser power, scan speed, and powder flow rate on track geometry and porosity, were investigated using a Formalloy LDED machine via L27 orthogonal array of experiments. Increasing the laser power resulted in an increase in bead width and wetting angle, whereas increasing the scan speed led to a decrease in bead height and wetting angle and a minor increase in width. The results also showed a linear increase in wetting angle and bead height with increased powder flow rate, while the width of the bead remained relatively constant. Furthermore, it was also observed that increasing the laser power to 750 W resulted in a decrease in the cross-sectional porosity of the bead due to the availability of sufficient energy density thereby facilitating proper melting. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.Item Influence of Process Parameters on Microstructural Properties of L-DED Produced Ti64 Alloy(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2025) Suresh, S.; Kuriachen, B.; Kumar, V.; Bontha, S.; Gurugubelli, R.C.Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques have revolutionized the manufacturing of complex and customized parts across various applications. However, they are known for producing titanium parts with high anisotropy and low ductility, due to high cooling gradient in the build direction and the presence of martensite phase in microstructure respectively. These are inherent problems which limit their application in critical engineering fields. Laser—Direct Energy Deposition (L-DED) produced parts also have the same disadvantages. Thus, the primary objective of this paper is to identify the optimal combination of process parameters for L-DED that can mitigate these inherent limitations. Keeping the parameters such as powder size, orientation angle and hatch angle as constant, the laser power and scan speed are varied to fabricate 9 different sets of samples using L-DED. The research methodology includes an analysis of the microstructure, focusing on grain width, phase distribution, lath characteristics and presence of defects, if any. Microscopy and XRD techniques were used to observe the microstructure. Additionally, hardness studies were performed to evaluate the changes in material hardness. It was noticed that laser power significantly influences β width and α’ length while scan speed has a lesser dominant effect on both of them. The findings will contribute to the development of process-structure-property relations for L-DED-produced Ti64 and further, optimized manufacturing strategies for producing titanium parts with reduced anisotropy and increased ductility. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.Item A study on the effect of process parameters and scan strategies on microstructure and mechanical properties of laser directed energy deposited IN718(Elsevier Ltd, 2023) Thanumoorthy, R.S.; Sekar, P.; Bontha, S.; Balan, A.S.S.The present study focuses on understanding the effect of scan strategy on the microstructure and mechanical properties of LDED fabricated IN718 built at optimized process conditions from single track analysis. Initially, single track studies were conducted by varying laser power, scan speed, and feed rate (3 levels) to optimize process parameters for bulk deposition. Based on the dilution, aspect ratio, track continuity and melt pool shape, best process parameter were chosen for depositing bulk structures. Bulk rectangular specimens were fabricated using the LDED process for different infill rotation (0°, 45°, 67°, and 90°) at optimized process conditions. Infill rotation did not show any significant change in the density of the samples. However, grain size measurement from EBSD and SEM micrographs revealed a substantial difference in grain size between samples without infill rotation (0°) and samples with infill rotation (45°, 67°, and 90°). XRD and EDS mapping revealed higher the formation of secondary laves phases with infill rotation as a result of higher cooling rate. Similarly, melt pool shape and arrangement showed significant variation with different infill angles. Samples with 0° and 90° infill rotation exhibited strong crystallographic texture along the build direction. There was a significant variation in the microhardness and tensile strength of the build with variation in infill rotation. This variation in mechanical properties were attributed to grain size, LAGB's fraction, secondary phases, and crystallographic texture. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.Item Process parameter optimization for laser directed energy deposition (LDED) of Ti6Al4V using single-track experiments with small laser spot size(Elsevier Ltd, 2024) Gonnabattula, A.; Thanumoorthy, R.S.; Bontha, S.; Balan, A.A.S.; Anil Kumar, V.A.; Kanjarla, A.K.Single-track experiments are routinely used in the optimization of process parameters in additive manufacturing processes. Most of the process parameter optimization studies use a laser spot size of 1 mm or more. Since laser spot size affects the input energy density and in turn the efficiency of the deposition process, it is important to develop process maps every time a laser of different spot sizes is used. In this work, we determine the process maps for a laser of 0.6 mm spot size. By combining the process maps and the metallographic inspection, we estimate the optimum process parameters (laser power, scan speed, powder feed rate) for building Ti6Al4V components using powder-based laser-directed energy deposition(LDED). Single-tracks corresponding to 64 different parameter combinations are deposited. After eliminating the process parameter combinations resulting in defective tracks, the optimum process parameters of 300 W laser power and 720 mm min−1 scan speed is established by considering the relationship between the process parameters and the geometrical features of the deposit. The experimental results are then used to calibrate the modeling parameters of a three-dimensional finite element model for simulating the deposition process. © 2024 Elsevier LtdItem Tailoring the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Laser Powder-Directed Energy-Deposited Inconel 625 Using Scan Strategies(Springer, 2025) Aromal, S.S.; Malathesh, P.B.; Thanumoorthy, R.S.; Agasti, S.K.; Praharaj, A.K.; Anil Kumar, V.A.; Sudarshan Rao, G.S.; Bontha, S.The current study is focused on the influence of different scan strategies on the microstructural evolution, crystallographic texture, and mechanical properties of the Inconel 625 (IN625) fabricated using the laser powder-directed energy deposition (LP-DED) process. Prior to the deposition of the bulk specimens, an optimized set of process parameters (laser power (P), scan speed (v), and feed rate (f)) was selected through analysis of single-track deposits. The single tracks were thoroughly analyzed based on the aspect ratio, track stability, dilution, and shape of the melt pool. Further, six rectangular blocks of IN625 with different scan strategies (unidirectional ? 0°, bidirectional ? 0°, 45°, 67°, 90°, and spiral) were fabricated using the optimized process parameters for deposition. Samples with a 0° unidirectional scan strategy exhibited higher yield strength values but lower ductility. Notably, the sample with a scan orientation of 67° exhibited superior isotropic properties that are required to bear intense multi-axial loads when compared to other samples. The results indicated that the sample with a 67° scan orientation has the best combination of both strength and ductility. This can be attributed to finer cells/grains, which occur due to fragmentation of cells/grains during their growth across the successive layers, a higher fraction of low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs), and variation of vector length within a layer. EBSD analysis revealed that samples with a 67° scan orientation exhibited a random crystallographic texture (MUD = 2.2), which suggests isotropic behavior compared to other samples. © ASM International 2025.