The combination of low density and high strength makes titanium alloys key structural materials for manifold applications. Alloys developed for increased temperature resistance, e.g., Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo-0.1Si can be used at over 500°C. The oxide dispersion strengthening (ODS) approach is of interest in order to further extend this range of application by increasing the creep resistance and thus to support lightweight construction or efficiency enhancement in e.g., aircraft engines. In the primarily acting strengthening mechanism of dispersion hardening by finely dispersed nanoparticles (NP), the Orowan mechanism in particular plays a central role, in which non-cuttable nanoparticles are bypassed by incoming dislocations. The effectiveness of the stabilization of the microstructure and the resulting macroscopic mechanical properties is therefore highly dependent on the size distribution and coherence with the metallic matrix of the NP.
Due to the high cooling rates and small melt pools, additive manufacturing (AM) is one of the few ways to circumvent the agglomeration problem in the production of ODS materials. The influence of different laser-based AM processes, characterized by their cooling conditions, on the microstructure and initial properties of high-strength titanium ODS of different compositions is thus investigated.