Hybrid additive manufacturing of ceramic/aluminum-titanium gradient composites via arc and laser cladding eutectic pools

There is a great deal of interest in improving the efficiency of arc-directed energy deposition (Arc-DED) of aluminium matrix composites and the uniform introduction of reinforcing particles. In this work, ceramic/aluminum-titanium gradient composites were manufactured by hybrid additive manufacturing with arc and laser cladding eutectic pools. The results show that the laser cladding powder feed method can have a higher powder capture rate compared to bypass feeding. Coupling the laser and powder changed the pulsed base-arc characteristics and increased the peak arc length. After the addition of the powder mixture, the aluminium matrix formed an Al3Ti reinforced phase, which evolved from needles to rods as the amount of powder increased. As the content of ceramic particles and the Al3Ti phase increased, the average hardness of the AMC components increased from 55.5–126 HV0.1 and the wear rate decreased from 6.16 × 10−3–1.25 × 10.−3 mm3·N−1·m−1.