Laser Rapid Forming Application of TA15 Titanium Alloy in Machining Process

Titanium alloys possess outstanding features such as low density, high specific strength, and corrosion resistance. They are widely used in aerospace and engine structures. The amount of titanium alloy components used has become one of the important indicators for evaluating the advanced technology of modern aircraft and high thrust-to-weight ratio aircraft engines.

The laser rapid forming technology for titanium alloy components uses titanium alloy powder as the raw material and deposits layer by layer through laser melting ("growth manufacturing"). It directly completes the "near-net-shape forming" of high-performance titanium alloy components from the CAD model of the part in one step. It is a revolutionary short-cycle, low-cost, moldless, digital, and advanced manufacturing technology. Compared with traditional titanium alloy manufacturing technologies such as overall forging, the laser rapid forming technology for titanium alloy components has the advantages of fine and uniform microstructure, excellent comprehensive mechanical properties, no need for forging processing and forging molds, high material utilization rate, small machining allowance, short CNC processing time, and flexible and efficient operation. Through nearly 10 years of research and development, China has taken the lead in achieving the installation application of large-scale titanium alloy main load-bearing components by laser rapid forming.

The surface morphology characteristics, microstructure, mechanical properties, and size tolerance of laser rapid-formed titanium alloy parts are significantly different from those of traditional cast and forged titanium alloys. The machining process of laser rapid-formed titanium alloys also differs from that of traditional forged titanium alloys. Currently, there are no research reports on the cutting processing technology of laser rapid-formed titanium alloys. This project analyzed the surface morphology characteristics and hardness distribution uniformity of laser rapid-formed TA15 titanium alloy parts, and focused on the cutting process performance of milling, boring, drilling, etc. of laser rapid-formed TA15 titanium alloy components, as well as the selection of cutting tool materials and the optimization of milling process parameters.