The role of side-branching in microstructure development in laser powder-bed fusion

In-depth understanding of microstructure development is required to fabricate high quality products by additive manufacturing (for example, 3D printing). Here we report the governing role of side-branching in the microstructure development of alloys by laser powder bed fusion. We show that perturbations on the sides of cells (or dendrites) facilitate crystals to change growth direction by side-branching along orthogonal directions in response to changes in local heat flux. While the continuous epitaxial growth is responsible for slender columnar grains confined to the centreline of melt pools, side-branching frequently happening on the sides of melt pools enables crystals to follow drastic changes in thermal…

• IC
  Imperial College London
• EA
  Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

  Awards: EP/P006566/1, EP/P006566, EP/K503733, EP/K503733/1, K503733/1, EP/P006566/1