Building Orientation and Heat Treatments Effect on the Pseudoelastic Properties of NiTi Produced by LPBF

NiTi dominates the market of shape memory materials due to its optimal combination of mechanical, functional, and biocompatibility properties, which enabled its use for several applications, in particular for the biomedical and the aerospace sectors. However, due to its poor machinability, NiTi is a challenging material from the manufacturing standpoint. Therefore, in the last years, researchers have focused on the production of NiTi components by additive manufacturing processes, which also enable the manufacturing of complex shape parts that cannot be produced with conventional methods. The aim of this study is to provide insights on the optimization of the functional performances of NiTi produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion, leveraging on the building orientation and post-processing heat treatments. Uniaxial mechanical tests have been performed in tension and compression, and the influence of heat treatments and building orientation on the mechanical behavior of pseudoelastic NiTi has been evaluated. Different heat treatment schedules have been evaluated, leading to transformation strains up to 2.7% in tension and 4.6% in compression. This study confirms that Laser Powder Bed Fusion is a promising additive manufacturing technology for the production of net-shape and near defect-free NiTi components, exhibiting remarkable functional properties.