Design of a best-in-class bulk metallic glass suitable for additive manufacturing

Purpose and goal

Project aim was to establish a comp. framework and strategies to enable printing of Fe-BMGs, to address an industrial need for alloys having unique combination of properties at reasonable cost. By identifying and addressing key technical challenges, ICME modeling was used to design new alloys and calibrate models with knowledge gained through the project. Via simultaneous process opt., this allowed rapid screening and development of novel Fe-BMGs tailored to AM. While objectives were achieved and best-in-class alloy designed, industrial deployment requires further improvement

Expected results and effects

By iterative development via modeling, production, AM process optimization and build characterization, alloy chemistry and print quality was improved, as expected. Final alloys demonstrated improved AM defect tolerance when compared to leading candidates on the market. But, microcracking in the final build limit their practical use. Strategies to address the new challenge were identified. Assuming successful demonstration, the new concept allow tailoring the microstructure to various application driven performance requirements, ultimately reaching the overarching goal

Planned approach and implementation

QuesTek and Exmet as different technology providers teamed to maximize the development rate of new Fe-BMGs tailored to AM, utilizing respective expertise. The synergy and constant feedback between modeling and experiment allowed rapid iteration and simultaneous development of both materials and process, which was the goal of the teamwork. This proceeded well, despite large technical challenges and dependencies on external vendor lead times.