Arcam AB fka AMAVF

[Tom Joad]

EB produced blades and medical implants are at least as effective based on everything I've read and possibly lighter due to ability to produce any geometry as you mention. FT and I were talking about full density, not the total mass of the blades. Getting full density with no flaws with any method can be a problem but lots of research has lead to quality control that solves the problem. They are getting full if not very near full density straight out of the Arcam machine and full density with little or no flaws with HIP treatment. I have to correct myself and say that not all flaws are spherical. The most meaningful measures are mechanical properties, in my opinion. Discussion and many pictures of flaws from a 2009 paper-

Because the atomization process for manufacturing uniform, round Ti-6Al-4V particles traps argon gas bubbles, these bubbles are carried into the melt and retained in the solidified build as illustrated in Figure 5 which shows retained argon bubbles which can range in size from <10 µm to >50 µm in diameter. The argon gas is apparently not under any significant pressure when trapped, and the high temperature of the melt (~1670º C) and the high surface tension of Ti-6Al-4V does not permit these bubbles to leave the melt. Figure 6 illustrates several typical examples of bubbles breaking out of the precursor powder particles, especially in the SEM view shown in Figure 6b.

sffsymposium.engr.utexas.edu/Manuscripts/2009/2009-32-Murr.pdf

From a 2010 paper (UTS = Ultimate Tensile Strength, HIP = Hot Isostatic Pressing)-

Tensile strength of the EBM built material is concluded to be high compared to conventional manufacturing techniques of TiAl. The UTS for the as-HIPed material is about 100 MPa higher compared to cast TiAl at room temperature. The ductility is however lower than expected and can be concluded to be a result from the higher amount of oxygen in the material used in this study. To further increase the knowledge of the mechanical properties the fracture surfaces has to be investigated.

An Investigation of Microstructural Behavior and Related Mechanical Properties for Aerospace Applications

From a 2015 paper-

4. Conclusion

The presented results highlight the potential for the optimization of the mechanical properties of EBM fabricated Ti-6Al-4V by heat treatments. Since the powder bed and the parts therein are kept at around 700 °C during the EBM build process and cooled down slowly, dense specimen combine UTS of more than 1000 MPa with good ductility. Therefore heat treatments at temperatures above 700 °C offer only small improvements in static tensile properties. In contrast, significant increases in fatigue resistance can be achieved by combining HIP and thermal treatments. In that way Ti-6Al-4V material additively manufactured by EBM can match fatigue performance of forging stock.

www.ifam.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/ifam/en/documents/dd/Publikationen/2015/Kirchner%20et%20al_Mechanical%20properties%20of%20Ti-6Al-4V%20additively%20manufactured%20by%20electron%20beam%20melting_EuroPM2015.pdf