Journal Published Online: 31 July 2020
Volume 9, Issue 5

Material Characterization of Additively Manufactured Ti-6Al-4V Parts for an Environmental Control and Life Support System in Space Flight Hardware

CODEN: MPCACD

Abstract

Additive manufacturing has been added to the repertoire of production processes for components in the environmental control and life support system of space-faring habitable modules. In addition to cost savings over conventional machining, additive manufacturing expands the design space to enable more compact hardware configurations, resulting in reduced hardware volume and weight. Volume and weight reductions are coveted attributes of any spaceflight hardware in orbit or transit. The reliability of environmental control and life support systems is of paramount importance. Failure of these systems can result in catastrophic consequences. As part of an effort to implement additively manufactured parts in mission critical hardware, development hardware will be operated on the International Space Station in parallel with the existing qualified hardware. In order to support strength and durability assessment of the development hardware, a limited material characterization plan was developed. The derived data, describing some of the mechanical and metallurgical characteristics of a Ti-6Al-4V component built with a selective laser-melting additive manufacturing process, are presented. The number of test samples in the characterization are limited to one or two samples of each test type, precluding a statistical assessment of the properties, but a wide range of properties (including cross sectional metallography, Poisson’s ratio, tensile strength, fracture toughness, crack growth rate, and high cycle fatigue) are discussed.

Author Information

Roberts, Christopher
Materials and Processes Laboratory, Huntsville, AL, USA
McGill, Preston
Materials and Processes Laboratory, Huntsville, AL, USA
Foreman, Larry
Materials and Processes Laboratory, Huntsville, AL, USA
Roberts, Matthew
Jacobs Engineering, Huntsville, AL, USA
Rabenberg, Ellen
Materials and Processes Laboratory, Huntsville, AL, USA
Brown, Arthur
Human Exploration Development Chief Engineer’s Office, Huntsville, AL, USA
Pages: 18
Price: $25.00
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Details
Stock #: MPC20190239
ISSN: 2379-1365
DOI: 10.1520/MPC20190239