Hybrid additive manufacturing of gamma titanium aluminide space hardware

A major part of laser additive manufacturing focuses on the fabrication of metallic parts for applications in the space and aerospace sector. Especially the processing of the very brittle titanium aluminides can be particularly challenging [1-2]. In the present paper a gamma titanium aluminide (g-TiAl) nozzle, manufactured via Electron Beam Melting (EBM), is extended and adapted via hybrid Laser Metal Deposition (LMD). The presented approach considers critical impacts like processing temperatures, temperature gradients and solidification conditions with particular regard to crucial material properties like the phenomena of lamellar interface cracking [3-6]. Furthermore, the potential of microstructural tailoring is going to be addressed by the process-specific manipulation of the composition and/or microstructure. In addition to this, selected destructive and non-destructive testing is performed in order to prove the material properties. Finally, post manufacturing and surface modification are briefly addressed.