New Heat Treatment For 3D Printed Metals

Here at 3D Rapid Print, one of the fastest growing 3D Printing companies in the Thames Valley, we like to keep abreast of the latest innovations in 3D printing.

On November 14th 2022, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced that a group of researchers there had developed a new heat treatment for 3D printed metals, which MIT contended could enable the 3D printing of turbine blades that were more energy-efficient than those made via casting. Nonetheless, MIT argued that general efforts to 3D print turbine blades haven’t yet solved the problem of the 3D printing process leaving a microstructure that is vulnerable to creep. (Here, creep refers to a metal’s tendency to permanently deform due to persistent mechanical stress and high temperatures.)

The team experimented on rod-shaped samples of 3D printed nickel-based superalloys typically used in gas turbines. They placed the samples in a room-temperature water bath placed just below an induction coil, slowly drawing each rod out of the water and through the coil at various speeds, heating the rods to temperatures varying between 1,200 and 1,245°C.

They discovered that a draw speed of 2.5mm per hour and a temperature of 1,235°C caused a transformation in the material’s microstructure, which replaced the material’s microscopic grains with long, crystal-like regions significantly larger than the original grains. Called columnar grains, they are sturdier and should minimize the material’s creep potential, as the columns are aligned with the axis of greatest stress. The team also showed that they could tailor the material’s growing grains by manipulating the draw speed and temperature of the rod samples.

For further work, the team plans to investigate how to increase the draw speed and test the heat-treated structure’s resistance to creep. They hope that their method will lead to the 3D printing of industrial-grade turbine blades with more complex geometries. Their research was published in the journal Additive Manufacturing.

3D printing is an amazing tool. It can grow your small business or start a mini revolution in an industry. Explore what it can do for you when you contact us today.

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