Influence of adaptive slice thickness and retained heat effect on laser metal deposited thin-walled freeform structures

Light-weight, thin-walled freeform structures of aerospace materials can be realized through Additive Manufacturing process like powder- and wire-based Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) technique. Repeatability, in the context of deposited clad geometry and achieved microstructure hinders the wide-spread industrialization of high deposition rate LMD process, which is influenced by numerous intrinsic and extrinsic process parameters. In this paper, the influences of adaptive slice thickness and retained heat effect on build geometry and microstructure have been investigated. Experiments carried out with a powder-fed LMD system to build Ti-6Al-4V freeform structures have been examined for geometrical accuracy and microstructure analysis.