Functionally Graded Materials Strategy for Additive Manufacturing (FunGrAM)

Important results from the project

The project aimed to evaluate and develop ICME-based design strategy for functionally graded materials (FGMs). The results demonstrate an exemplary gradient strategy that avoids detrimental phases in the microstructure and ensures AM processability. In conjunction, improvements in existing DED facility setup and potential processing challenges were identified, to enable efficient production of FGM. This can accelerate the development by reducing cost and time of experimentation, and lays groundwork for property-tailored FGM design.

Expected long term effects

Project results include: (1) A computationally-designed strategy for compositional grading of two dissimilar materials, with considerations of phase stability and crack sensitivity during additive manufacturing. (2) A gap analysis summarizing limitations of existing manufacturing facility and improvement needs towards efficient production of functionally graded materials (FGMs). A consortium prepared for a larger project on FGM development was identified, along with directions of future work.

Approach and implementation

The goals of the project were reached by successful completion of the tasks: (1) Identification of the design space by defining the two dissimilar materials and target property goals. (2) Definition of constraints of direct linear grading based on microstructure and property assessment along the grading path. (3) Integration of computational models and tools to identify a third material to assist joining and the associated gradient path with desirable microstructure and properties.