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ChinaScience

China-US team uses 3D printing to build world’s strongest anti-fatigue titanium alloy

  • Researchers develop process that could open the way for an expansion in the technology’s applications
  • While the work is still at an experimental stage, it already has ‘great application prospects’, a study author says

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A research team from China and the US has shown that the limitations of 3d printing could be overcome to one day achieve metal components with a high level of fatigue tolerance. Photo: Shutterstock
Zhang Tongin Beijing
Scientists have made an advancement in 3D printing technology for a titanium alloy, doubling the material’s endurance and broadening prospects for its applications in the aerospace sector.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) hailed the achievement – detailed in a study published by the journal Nature on Wednesday – as a “significant breakthrough” in materials science.

The research was a collaboration between Zhang Zhenjun and Zhang Zhefeng, from the CAS Institute of Metal Research’s Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, and Robert Ritchie from the University of California, Berkeley.

According to the peer-reviewed paper, the study was conceived in China and the sample material was also produced there. Ritchie took part in the reviewing process for the manuscript.

While 3D printing – also known as additive manufacturing (AM) – has revolutionised manufacturing, the process has been of limited use for making components that require a high level of fatigue tolerance.

Metal 3D printing uses lasers to melt metal powder and layer it into specific, complex shapes in a shorter time – perfect for the rapid fabrication of large, intricate items.

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