The effects of build orientation and hatch spacing on mechanical properties of medical Ti-6Al-4V alloy manufactured by selective laser melting

The mechanical properties of the parts manufactured by selective laser melting (SLM) method are immensely influenced by the parameters/strategies of manufacturing and the post-treatment. Therefore, it is of importance to determine the effect of parameters used during the manufacturing process on the mechanical properties of the material. In this study, the effects of build orientation and hatch spacing on static mechanical and impact properties of medical Ti-6Al-4V alloy manufactured by the SLM method were investigated, and 12 different hatch spacing were tested with 3 different build orientations. Increasing the hatch spacing resulted in a decline in the ultimate tensile strength values; however, there was a different trend in the elongation values. The elongation values increased up to 67.5 mu m and then decreased with increasing hatch spacing for the elongation values. The highest elongation values were obtained when the hatch spacing was 67.5 mu m for any of the three orientations. Besides, considering the absorbed energies of the samples manufactured by the SLM, the highest dynamic toughness value was obtained from the sample manufactured by horizontal orientation.