The alloys used nowadays for additive manufacturing (AM) are mostly based on compositions inherited from conventional production techniques. The strong anisotropy exhibited by metals that solidify with cubic fcc or bcc primary phases (e.g. conventional compositions of Ni- or Ti-based alloys) represents a deep-rooted drawback during AM, where thermo-mechanical processing for microstructural engineering is not possible in near net-shape fabrication.
Investigating the binary system Ti-La we discovered a phase transformation path that opens up an alternative to avoid the typical coarse anisotropic microstructures obtained upon additive manufacturing of titanium alloys and provides new windows for the alloy design of other metallic systems.
Link to the Open Access publication.