Microstructure control and compressive properties of selective laser melted Ti-43.5Al-6.5Nb-2Cr-0.5B alloy: Influence of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) reinforcement.

Abstract A novel approach of liquid deposition method (LDM) together with selective laser melting (SLM) have been used to process Ti-43.5Al-6.5Nb-2Cr-0.5B/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) metal matrix composites (MMCs). The grain size, crystallography texture, phases composition and compressive properties can be tailored by controlling the RGO content in Ti-43.5Al-6.5Nb-2Cr-0.5B/RGO MMCs. Due to the combined effects of grain refinement mechanism and special phases composition, the SLM-processed TiAl/RGO parts exhibit the superior compressive strength of 1546.88 MPa and strain of 5.34%, as compare to the unreinforced Ti-43.5Al-6.5Nb-2Cr-0.5B counterpart. These results shed new insights in the innovation of design novel TiAl/RGO composites for SLM. Graphical abstract fx1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]