About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Additive Manufacturing of Refractory Metallic Materials
|
| Presentation Title |
Novel Fabrication of Pure Tungsten Using Spot Melting in Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion: Toward Crack-Free Dense Tungsten |
| Author(s) |
Toan Truong, Acemi Cafer Melik Ensar, Haojun You, Arun Ramanathan Balachandramurthi, Anders Elfverson, Karaman Ibrahim, Mohsen Taheri Andani |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Toan Truong |
| Abstract Scope |
Pure tungsten was fabricated for the first time using spot melting via electron beam powder bed fusion (E-PBF) additive manufacturing. Leveraging the non-inertial nature of the electron beam, localized melting enabled near fully dense, crack-free tungsten components for extreme environments like fusion reactors. Cracking has long challenged tungsten fabrication via powder metallurgy and fusion-based AM due to its high ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT). By precisely controlling the focal spot size and applying high pre-heating temperatures, we effectively regulated the local thermal history, minimizing thermal gradients and cooling rates. This suppressed cracking while maintaining 99.8% average density. The tightly controlled vacuum environment prevented impurity contamination, enhancing grain boundary strength. As-printed parts showed improved mechanical strength over line melting E-PBF and other AM methods, comparable to wrought counterparts. This work also pioneers electron-beam-induced in-situ microstructure imaging in tungsten, uniquely enabled by localized spot melting in E-PBF. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Additive Manufacturing, Other, Other |