Comparative study on Young's modulus measurements on additively manufactured alloys

Abstract

Additive manufacturing has advanced to a point where initial components are transitioning into practical use. Essential material properties including strength parameters and Young’s modulus are crucial for component designs. Young modulus, in particular, plays a fundamental role in material selection and design, as understanding the materials Young’s modulus allows engineers to accurately predict the behaviour of components and structures under applied loads.

This study explores the cause for low Young’s modulus values obtained from tensile tests conducted before this study on M300 additively manufactured maraging steels. A comparative study between the testing methods such as tensile and ultrasound, parameters such as hatch distance, scanning speed, laser power and laser density, and properties such as density, porosity and material anisotropy were conducted.

Tensile tests were conducted using a Universal testing system from Instron, Ultrasound test was conducted using a thickness measurement device by Olympus, optical microscopy and X-ray computer tomography were used to measure the porosity, and density was tested using an analytic balance set-up.

The study highlights the cause and possible reasons for lower Young’s modulus observed in tensile testing, which include but are not limited to microplasticity effects and the material’s anisotropy.