Abnormal interfacial bonding mechanisms of multi-material additive-manufactured tungsten–stainless steel sandwich structure

Abstract Tungsten (W) and stainless steel (SS) are well known for the high melting point and good corrosion resistance respectively. Bimetallic W–SS structures would offer potential applications in extreme environments. In this study, a SS→W→SS sandwich structure is fabricated via a special laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) method based on an ultrasonic-assisted powder deposition mechanism. Material characterization of the SS→W interface and W→SS interface was conducted, including microstructure, element distribution, phase distribution, and nano-hardness. A coupled modelling method, combining computational fluid dynamics modelling with discrete element method, simulated the melt pool dynamics and solidification at the material interfaces. The study shows that the interface bonding of SS→W (SS printed on W) is the combined effect of solid-state diffusion with different elemental diffusion rates and grain boundary diffusion. The keyhole mode of the melt pool at the W→SS (W printed on SS) interface makes the pre-printed SS layers repeatedly remelted, causing the liquid W to flow into the sub-surface of the pre-printed SS through the keyhole cavities realizing the bonding of the W→SS interface. The above interfacial bonding behaviours are significantly different from the previously reported bonding mechanism based on the melt pool convection during multiple material LPBF. The abnormal material interfacial bonding behaviours are reported for the first time.