Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of LaB6/Ti-6Al-4V Composites Fabricated by Selective Laser Melting

In this study, TiB + La2O3/Ti-6Al-4V composites were successfully prepared by in situ reaction using selective laser melting technology. The effect of LaB6content on the fabrication quality, microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of the composite samples was investigated. The results show that the relative density of the sample gradually decreased from 98.56% to 96.57% as LaB6content increased from 0 wt% to 3 wt%. With increasing LaB6content, TiB precipitates gradually aggregated and grew from a discrete needle-like structure to a dendritic structure, before eventually developing a cell-like structure. The dislocations piled up around the TiB and La2O3reinforcements, which impeded the motion of the dislocations and led to the enhancement of the tensile strength of the samples. Different from the addition of a single reinforcement due to the combined strengthening effect of the micrometer-scale and nanoscale reinforcements, the strength of the samples was increased significantly. The Ti-6Al-4V sample with 3 wt% LaB6addition showed the most significant strengthening effect. Compared to the pure Ti-6Al-4V sample, the 3 wt% LaB6addition sample gained a 35.71% increase in hardness and a 14.5% increase in tensile strength. Additionally, wear volume was reduced by 47.5%. The results revealed that the addition of LaB6was a potential way to improve the mechanical performance of the titanium alloys in the additive manufacturing process.