Search for: All records

Recent advances in the processing of wear-resistant calcium-phosphate reinforced CoCrMo composites for articulating surface applications has necessitated further investigation of performance in biological conditions relevant to patient applications. To this end, CoCrMo composites containing calcium phosphate in the form of hydroxyapatite (HA) were manufactured to study the influence of the reinforcing phase on the tribofilm formation in biologically-relevant conditions. The CoCrMo-HA composites were processed using a laser engineered net shaping (LENS™) additive manufacturing (AM) system with three distinctive compositions: CoCrMo-0%HA, CoCrMo-1%HA, and CoCrMo-3%HA. Extensive wear testing of the CoCrMo-HA composites was carried out in DMEM (cell media) and DMEM + Hyaluronic acid (found naturally in synovial fluid). Wear tests were performed at loads ranging from 5N to 20N, and wear media was measured post-test using ICP-MS techniques for the release of Co and Cr ions. During testing, all coefficients of friction remained in the 0.15-0.25 range, which was lower than the previously reported 0.50-0.75 range in DI water, indicating that the DMEM + hyaluronic acid media plays a significant role in reducing frictional contact. At loads higher than 15N, the HA-tribofilm exhibited a breakdown resulting in higher wear rates but still lower overall ion release in comparison to the CoCrMo control composition. Our results indicate that CoCrMo alloys with HA addition can significantly reduce wear rates and ion release even in the presence of naturally-occurring synovial-fluid friction-reducing constituents. 

Emulating the unique combination of structural, compositional, and functional gradation in natural materials is exceptionally challenging. Many natural structures have proved too complex or expensive to imitate using traditional processing techniques despite recent advances. Recent innovations within the field of additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D Printing (3DP) have shown the ability to create structures that have variations in material composition, structure, and performance, providing a new design-for-manufacturing platform for the imitation of natural materials. AM or 3DP techniques are capable of manufacturing structures that have significantly improved properties and functionality over what could be traditionally-produced, giving manufacturers an edge in their ability to realize components for highly-specialized applications in different industries. To this end, the present work reviews fundamental advances in the use of naturally-inspired design enabled through 3DP / AM, how these techniques can be further exploited to reach new application areas and the challenges that lie ahead for widespread implementation. An example of how these techniques can be applied towards a total hip arthroplasty application is provided to spur further innovation in this area. 

Production-volume and cost requirements currently limit machine tool manufacturers’ ability to produce application-specific tooling with traditional methods, motivating the development of innovative manufacturing technologies. To this end, we detail a manufacturing framework for the design and production of application-specific cutting tools based on industry standard tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co)-based “carbide” cutting materials using additive manufacturing (AM). Herein, novel diamond-reinforced carbide structures were designed and manufactured via AM and subsequently tested in comparison to current commercial products that are traditionally-processed. The resulting diamond-reinforced composites were free from large scale cracking and maintained microstructures with multiple reinforcing phases. Diamond incorporation had a remarkable effect on the processing, microstructure, and machining performance of the WC-Co based material in comparison to a commercial carbide cutting tool of similar composition as well as the base WC-Co matrix. Detailed microstructure and phase analysis, as well as machining experiments, demonstrate the ability to exploit laser-based directed energy deposition (DED)-based AM to create multifunctional cutting tools that can be designed to meet ever-increasing manufacturing demands across many industries. 

Engineered micro- and macro-structures via additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D-Printing can create structurally varying properties in a part, which is difficult via traditional manufacturing methods. Herein we have utilized powder bed fusion-based selective laser melting (SLM) to fabricate variable lattice structures of Ti6Al4V with uniquely designed unit cell configurations to alter the mechanical performance. Five different configurations were designed based on two natural crystal structures – hexagonal closed packed (HCP) and body centered cubic (BCC). Under compressive loading, as much as 74% difference was observed in compressive strength, and 71% variation in elastic modulus, with all samples having porosities in a similar range of 53 to 65%, indicating the influence of macro-lattice designs alone on mechanical properties. Failure analysis of the fracture surfaces helped with the overall understanding of how configurational effects and unit cell design influences mechanical properties of these samples. Our work highlights the ability to leverage advanced manufacturing techniques to tailor the structural performance of multifunctional components. 

In order to investigate the in‐space in situ resource utilization, directed energy deposition (DED)‐based additive manufacturing (AM) has been utilized to process Martian regolith—Ti6Al4V (Ti64) composites. Here we investigated the processability of depositing 5, 10, and 100 wt% of Martian regolith premixed with Ti6Al4V using laser‐based DED, analyzing the printed structure via X‐ray diffraction, Vicker's microhardness, scanning electron microscopic imaging, and wear characteristics utilizing an abrasive water jet cutter to simulate abrasive environments on the Martian surface. The results indicate that the surface roughness and hardness of the composites increase with respect to the Martian regolith’ weight percentage due to in situ ceramic reinforcement. For instance, i5‐wt% addition of Martian regolith increased the Vicker's microhardness from 366 ± 6 HV_0.2for as‐printed Ti64 to 730 ± 27 HV_0.2while maintaining similar abrasive wear performance as Ti6Al4V. The results point toward laser‐based AM for fabricating Ti64—Martian regolith composites with comparable properties. The study also reveals promising results in limiting the mass burden for future space missions, resulting in cheaper and easier launches.

 

Process optimization for directed-energy-deposition, an industrial laser-based additive manufacturing technique, is a time-intensive endeavor for manufacturers. Herein we investigate the use of a modified analytical process-model based on powder-bed-fusion techniques, to predict quality build parameters by incorporating the effects of three key parameters: laser-power, scanning-speed, and powder flowrate. Titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) tracks of varying parameters were built, studied, and used to predict parameters for quality builds used at different parameters. The model agreed well with experimental build quality at powder flowrates less than 6.5g/min, whereas, higher flowrates created significant unmelted-particle regions, despite optimal parameter predictions. Processing of multi-layer bulk samples revealed that parameters in the optimal range account for relative densities >99%, indicating quality bulk processing parameters. Our results indicate that process modeling with the incorporation of powder feedrate as a key parameter is possible using a commercial laser-based additive manufacturing system.