Grain Size Effects in Selective Laser Melted Fe-Co-2V

The material science of additive manufacturing (AM) has become a significant topic due to the unique way in which the material and geometry are created simultaneously. Major areas of research within inorganic materials include traditional structural materials, shape memory alloys, amorphous materials, and some new work in intermetallics. The unique thermal profiles created during selective laser melting (SLM) may provide new opportunities for processing intermetallics to improve mechanical and magnetic performance. A parameter set for the production of Fe-Co-2V material with additive manufacturing is developed and efforts are made to compare the traditional wrought alloy to the AM version of the same chemistry. Evaluation includes magnetic properties, composition, and phase as a function of thermal history, as well as mechanical performance. Results show significant similarities in microstructure between AM and wrought materials, as well as mechanical and magnetic performance. Property trends are evaluated as a function of grain size and show effects similar to the Hall–Petch strengthening observed in wrought material, though with some underprediction of the strength. Magnetic properties qualitatively follow the expected trends but demonstrate some deviation from wrought material, which is still unexplained.