Structure/property characterization of spallation in wrought and additively manufactured tantalum

Certification and product qualification of an engineering component generally involves meeting engineering and physics requirements tied to its functional requirements.. In this paper, the results of a study quantifying the microstructure and the dynamic damage evolution of Tantalum (Ta) fabricated using an EOS laser-powder-bed machine are presented. The microstructure of the AM-Ta is detailed and compared / contrast to wrought Ta. The dynamic damage evolution and failure response of the AM-Ta material, as well as wrought Ta, was probed using flyer-plate impact driven spallation experiments. The differences in the spallation response between the AM and wrought Ta were measured using in-situ velocimetry as well as post-mortem quantification of damage in “soft-recovered” samples. The damage evolution of the AM and wrought Ta were characterized using optical metallography.