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In this study, functional gradation via layer-wise additive manufacturing was coupled with Al2O3 and SiO2 ceramics' advantages to creating a composite of Ti6Al4V (Ti64) with improved hardness and wear resistance. It was hypothesized that with the addition of Al2O3 and SiO2 into Ti64, wear-resistance and hardness would increase when compared to the base Ti64 alloy. It was also hypothesized that if the structure could be created, an additional laser pass (LP) over the structure's top surface would further increase the hardness. Successfully fabricated composite structures were found to have varying phases of TiSi2 and Ti5Si3. Refined α-Ti grains were present in the composite region. The interface between the composite and pure Ti64 regions was crack-free, indicating a metallurgically sound bond. Dendritic microstructures were observed with the addition of LP on the composite top surface. Hardness was increased from 323.8 ± 9.6 HV in Ti64 substrate to 434.7 ± 7.3 HV and 677.1 ± 29.7 HV in 3D Printed Ti64 and the composite sample, respectively. An LP increased hardness further to 938.8 ± 57.5 HV, a 186% increase in hardness than the original Ti64 alloy. Wear resistance was also increased with the addition of Al2O3 and SiO2 by ~90%, indicating the potential processing variations placed on this material system to produce structures with site-specific functionality for biomedical applications, particularly in articulating surfaces of load-bearing implants. 

316L stainless steel (SS) to Al12Si aluminum alloy structures were processed, tailoring the compositionally graded interface on a SS 316 substrate using a directed energy deposition (DED)-based additive manufacturing (AM) process. Applying such a compositionally graded transition on bimetallic materials, especially joining two dissimilar metals, could avoid the mechanical property mismatch. This study's objective was to understand the processing parameters that influence the properties of AM processed SS 316L to Al12Si bimetallic structures. Two different approaches fabricated these bimetallic structures. The results showed no visible defects on the as-fabricated samples using 4 layers of Al-rich mixed composition as the transition section. The microstructural characterization showed a unique morphology in each section. Both cooling rate and compositional variations caused microstructural variation. FeAl, Fe2Al5, and FeAl3 intermetallic phases were formed at the compositionally graded transition section. After stress relief heat-treatment of SS 316L/Al12Si bimetallic samples, diffused intermetallic phases were seen at the compositionally graded transition. At the interface, as processed, bimetallic structures had a microhardness value of 834.2 ± 107.1 HV0.1, which is a result of the FeAl3 phase at the compositionally graded transition area. After heat-treatment, the microhardness value reduced to 578.7 ± 154.1 HV0.1 due to more Fe dominated FexAly phase formation. The compression test results showed that the non-HT and HT SS 316L/Al12Si bimetallic structures had a similar maximum compressive strength of 299.4 ± 22.1 MPa and 270.1 ± 27.1 MPa, respectively.