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Laser Processing for Composite Materials

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Manufacturing Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 July 2022) | Viewed by 20114

Special Issue Editor

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Tallinn University of Technology, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia
Interests: composites; ceramics; biomaterials; nanomaterials; materials science; tribology; additive manufacturing; powder metallurgy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We have the pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript to the forthcoming Special Issue, “Laser Processing for Composite Materials”, for the journal Materials.

Technological advances and a rapidly changing global market demand innovations aimed at envisioning, designing, and manufacturing materials with multiple genuinely useful functions, prescribed complex forms, and properties customized for the desired performance. From this aspect, the future vision includes innovative, technology-intensive products and processes requiring high-tech manufacturing methodologies. Following industrial drivers (such as the continual push for high quality, rapid product and process innovation, increasing productivity and reducing cost, highly efficient unit-of-one production), additive manufacturing (AM) has rapidly matured in recent years. The challenging requirements demand the development of composites which combine the material specifications to ensure predefined industrial needs.

While AM is the focus of this issue, the main attention is paid to laser-based procedures as one of the promising processes to fabricate composite materials of a wide variety of possible applications. This Special Issue covers the whole spectrum of composite materials processed utilising laser power to build the structures of tailored composition and properties. Therefore, feedstock powders, interaction between heat source and feedstock, parametric study of process, as well as developed microstructure and its defects and mechanical and physical properties of the produced composites are the topics of special interest of this Special issue. Discussion on new materials development, control of materials quality and process simulation/modelling is the main aim of the issue.

Prof. Dr. Irina Hussainova
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Laser-based processing 
  • Composites 
  • Microstructure 
  • Functionally graded materials 
  • In situ reactive laser sintering 
  • Powder feedstock 
  • Process/structure simulation/modelling 
  • Laser–feedstock interaction

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 3823 KiB  
Article
Model-Based Estimation of the Strength of Laser-Based Plastic-Metal Joints Using Finite Element Microstructure Models and Regression Models
by Julius Moritz Berges, Kira van der Straeten, Georg Jacobs, Jörg Berroth and Arnold Gillner
Materials 2021, 14(17), 5004; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14175004 - 01 Sep 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3100
Abstract
Plastic-metal joints with a laser-structured metal surface have a high potential to reduce cost and weight compared to conventional joining technologies. However, their application is currently inhibited due to the absence of simulation methods and models for mechanical design. Thus, this paper presents [...] Read more.
Plastic-metal joints with a laser-structured metal surface have a high potential to reduce cost and weight compared to conventional joining technologies. However, their application is currently inhibited due to the absence of simulation methods and models for mechanical design. Thus, this paper presents a model-based approach for the strength estimation of laser-based plastic-metal joints. The approach aims to provide a methodology for the efficient creation of surrogate models, which can capture the influence of the microstructure parameters on the joint strength. A parametrization rule for the shape of the microstructure is developed using microsection analysis. Then, a parameterized finite element (FE) model of the joining zone on micro level is developed. Different statistical plans and model fits are tested, and the predicted strength of the FE model and the surrogate models are compared against experiments for different microstructure geometries. The joint strength is predicted by the FE model with a 3.7% error. Surrogate modelling using half-factorial experimental design and linear regression shows the best accuracy (6.2% error). This surrogate model can be efficiently created as only 16 samples are required. Furthermore, the surrogate model is provided as an equation, offering the designer a convenient tool to estimate parameter sensitivities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Processing for Composite Materials)
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17 pages, 20259 KiB  
Article
Effect of Hemp Fiber Surface Treatment on the Moisture/Water Resistance and Reaction to Fire of Reinforced PLA Composites
by Percy Festus Alao, Laetitia Marrot, Heikko Kallakas, Alar Just, Triinu Poltimäe and Jaan Kers
Materials 2021, 14(15), 4332; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14154332 - 03 Aug 2021
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 2656
Abstract
The effects of surface pretreatment (water and alkali) and modification with silane on moisture sorption, water resistance, and reaction to fire of hemp fiber reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) composites at two fiber loading contents (30 and 50 wt.%) are investigated in this work. [...] Read more.
The effects of surface pretreatment (water and alkali) and modification with silane on moisture sorption, water resistance, and reaction to fire of hemp fiber reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) composites at two fiber loading contents (30 and 50 wt.%) are investigated in this work. Moisture adsorption was evaluated at 30, 50, 75 and 95% relative humidity, and water resistance was determined after a 28-day immersion period. The cone calorimetry technique was used to investigate response to fire. The fiber surface treatment resulted in the removal of cell wall components, which increased fiber individualization and homogeneity as shown in scanning microscopic pictures of the composite cross-section. Although the improved fiber/matrix bonding increased the composite’s water resistance, the different fiber treatments generated equal moisture adsorption results for the 30 wt.% reinforced composites. Overall, increasing the fiber amount from 30 to 50 wt.% increased the composite sensitivity to moisture/water, mainly due to the availability of more hydroxyl groups and to the development of a higher pore volume, but fire protection improved due to a reduction in the rate of thermal degradation induced by the reduced PLA content. The new Oswin’s model predicted the composite adsorption isotherm well. The 30 wt.% alkali and silane treated hemp fiber composite had the lowest overall adsorption (9%) while the 50 wt.% variant produced the highest ignition temperature (181 ± 18 °C). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Processing for Composite Materials)
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16 pages, 5642 KiB  
Article
Experimental and Numerical Investigation in Directed Energy Deposition for Component Repair
by Lan Li, Xinchang Zhang and Frank Liou
Materials 2021, 14(6), 1409; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14061409 - 14 Mar 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2367
Abstract
Directed energy deposition (DED) has been widely used for component repair. In the repair process, the surface defects are machined to a groove or slot and then refilled. The sidewall inclination angle of the groove geometry has been recognized to have a considerable [...] Read more.
Directed energy deposition (DED) has been widely used for component repair. In the repair process, the surface defects are machined to a groove or slot and then refilled. The sidewall inclination angle of the groove geometry has been recognized to have a considerable impact on the mechanical properties of repaired parts. The objective of this work was to investigate the feasibility of repairing various V-shaped defects with both experiments and modeling. At first, the repair volume was defined by scanning the defective zone. Then, the repair volume was sliced to generate the repair toolpath. After that, the DED process was used to deposit Ti6Al4V powder on the damaged plates with two different slot geometries. Mechanical properties of the repaired parts were evaluated by microstructure analysis and tensile test. Testing of the repaired parts showed excellent bonding between the deposits and base materials with the triangular slot repair. 3D finite element analysis (FEA) models based on sequentially coupled thermo-mechanical field analysis were developed to simulate the corresponding repair process. Thermal histories of the substrate on the repair sample were measured to calibrate the 3D coupled thermo-mechanical model. The temperature measurements showed very good verification with the predicted temperature results. After that, the validated model was used to predict the residual stresses and distortions in the parts. Predicted deformation and stress results can guide the evaluation of the repair quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Processing for Composite Materials)
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16 pages, 4434 KiB  
Article
Thermal Efficiency in Laser-Assisted Joining of Polymer–Metal Composites
by Klaus Schricker, Mohammad Alhomsi and Jean Pierre Bergmann
Materials 2020, 13(21), 4875; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma13214875 - 30 Oct 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1918
Abstract
Heat conduction joining is mainly used in laser-based joining of metals with polymers but results in a large amount of dissipated heat. The consideration of thermal efficiency allows the determination of power actually used for creating the joint, which is highly relevant for [...] Read more.
Heat conduction joining is mainly used in laser-based joining of metals with polymers but results in a large amount of dissipated heat. The consideration of thermal efficiency allows the determination of power actually used for creating the joint, which is highly relevant for technical and economic reasons, e.g., for calculating the carbon footprint. In order to describe the thermal efficiency universally, process parameters (focal diameter, joining speed, energy per unit length), metallic materials (AA 6082, AISI 304), geometric parameters (overlap width, material thickness) and various polymers (polypropylene, polyamide 6, polyamide 6.6) were examined experimentally. The discussion of the results is supplemented by numerical simulations of the temperature field. For a general description of the physical relationships, some dimensionless numbers based on the Buckingham π theorem were developed, applied to the experimental data. One of these numbers shows similarity to the Fourier number and provides further information on thermal efficiency and its general understanding in the context of polymer–metal joints, enabling the physical background dissipated to stored heat. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Processing for Composite Materials)
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17 pages, 14031 KiB  
Article
Parametric Study on In Situ Laser Powder Bed Fusion of Mo(Si1−x,Alx)2
by T. Minasyan, S. Aydinyan, E. Toyserkani and I. Hussainova
Materials 2020, 13(21), 4849; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma13214849 - 29 Oct 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1820
Abstract
Mo(Si1−x,Alx)2 composites were produced by a pulsed laser reactive selective laser melting of MoSi2 and 30 wt.% AlSi10Mg powder mixture. The parametric study, altering the laser power between 100 and 300 W and scan speed between 400 [...] Read more.
Mo(Si1−x,Alx)2 composites were produced by a pulsed laser reactive selective laser melting of MoSi2 and 30 wt.% AlSi10Mg powder mixture. The parametric study, altering the laser power between 100 and 300 W and scan speed between 400 and 1500 mm·s−1, has been conducted to estimate the effect of processing parameters on printed coupon samples’ quality. It was shown that samples prepared at 150–200 W laser power and 400–500 mm·s−1 scan speed, as well as 250 W laser power along with 700 mm·s−1 scan speed, provide a relatively good surface finish with 6.5 ± 0.5 µm–10.3 ± 0.8 µm roughness at the top of coupons, and 9.3 ± 0.7 µm–13.2 ± 1.1 µm side surface roughness in addition to a remarkable chemical and microstructural homogeneity. An increase in the laser power and a decrease in the scan speed led to an apparent improvement in the densification behavior resulting in printed coupons of up to 99.8% relative density and hardness of ~600 HV1 or ~560 HV5. The printed parts are composed of epitaxially grown columnar dendritic melt pool cores and coarser dendrites beyond the morphological transition zone in overlapped regions. An increase in the scanning speed at a fixed laser power and a decrease in the power at a fixed scan speed prohibited the complete single displacement reaction between MoSi2 and aluminum, leading to unreacted MoSi2 and Al lean hexagonal Mo(Si1−x,Alx)2 phase. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Processing for Composite Materials)
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13 pages, 6004 KiB  
Article
In Situ Mo(Si,Al)2-Based Composite through Selective Laser Melting of a MoSi2-30 wt.% AlSi10Mg Mixture
by Tatevik Minasyan, Sofiya Aydinyan, Ehsan Toyserkani and Irina Hussainova
Materials 2020, 13(17), 3720; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma13173720 - 23 Aug 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2509
Abstract
The laser power bed fusion approach has been successfully employed to manufacture Mo(Si,Al)2-based composites through the selective laser melting of a MoSi2-30 wt.% AlSi10Mg mixture for high-temperature structural applications. Composites were manufactured by leveraging the in situ reaction of [...] Read more.
The laser power bed fusion approach has been successfully employed to manufacture Mo(Si,Al)2-based composites through the selective laser melting of a MoSi2-30 wt.% AlSi10Mg mixture for high-temperature structural applications. Composites were manufactured by leveraging the in situ reaction of the components during printing at 150–300 W laser power, 500–1000 mm·s−1 laser scanning speed, and 100–134 J·mm−3 volumetric energy density. Microcomputed tomography scans indicated a negligible induced porosity throughout the specimens. The fully dense Mo(Si1-x,Alx)2-based composites, with hardness exceeding 545 HV1 and low roughness for both the top (horizontal) and side (vertical) surfaces, demonstrated that laser-based additive manufacturing can be exploited to create unique structures containing hexagonal Mo(Si0.67Al0.33)2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Processing for Composite Materials)
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Review

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28 pages, 6519 KiB  
Review
Bioactive Ceramic Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering by Powder Bed Selective Laser Processing: A Review
by Nikhil Kamboj, Antonia Ressler and Irina Hussainova
Materials 2021, 14(18), 5338; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14185338 - 16 Sep 2021
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 4449
Abstract
The implementation of a powder bed selective laser processing (PBSLP) technique for bioactive ceramics, including selective laser sintering and melting (SLM/SLS), a laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) approach is far more challenging when compared to its metallic and polymeric counterparts for the fabrication [...] Read more.
The implementation of a powder bed selective laser processing (PBSLP) technique for bioactive ceramics, including selective laser sintering and melting (SLM/SLS), a laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) approach is far more challenging when compared to its metallic and polymeric counterparts for the fabrication of biomedical materials. Direct PBSLP can offer binder-free fabrication of bioactive scaffolds without involving postprocessing techniques. This review explicitly focuses on the PBSLP technique for bioactive ceramics and encompasses a detailed overview of the PBSLP process and the general requirements and properties of the bioactive scaffolds for bone tissue growth. The bioactive ceramics enclosing calcium phosphate (CaP) and calcium silicates (CS) and their respective composite scaffolds processed through PBSLP are also extensively discussed. This review paper also categorizes the bone regeneration strategies of the bioactive scaffolds processed through PBSLP with the various modes of functionalization through the incorporation of drugs, stem cells, and growth factors to ameliorate critical-sized bone defects based on the fracture site length for personalized medicine. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Processing for Composite Materials)
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