Additive Manufacturing of Metallic Materials

Catalog description

This course will expose students to the state of the art in understanding processing, structure, and property relationships in materials fabricated using additive manufacturing (AM). There will be a strong focus on metallic alloys, but polymers, ceramics, and advanced materials will also be briefly discussed. The emphasis of the course will be on understanding the links between processing and the resulting structure, as well as the microstructure and the mechanics of the fabricated materials. Initially, we will discuss the types of AM and the feedstock materials required for these processes. We will then focus on metals, and discuss the energy sources used in AM (lasers, electron beams), and their interactions with the material. We will discuss the molten pool characteristics and the solidification microstructures. We will relate the microstructures seen in AM to the resulting mechanical properties (elastic deformation, plastic deformation, fracture, fatigue performance, and residual stress/distortion). Finally, we will discuss specific case studies for metals, polymers, ceramics, and advanced materials.