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Laser powder directed energy deposition fabrication and tensile sandwich evaluation of Ti64-C103-GRCop-42 functionally graded materials
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Laser powder directed energy deposition fabrication and tensile sandwich evaluation of Ti64-C103-GRCop-42 functionally graded materials

Daniel Rubio-Ejchel, Michael Lester, KenHee Ryou, Christopher Tandoc, Dillon K. Jobes, Jun Fan, Wenda Tan, William S. LePage, Yong-Jie Hu and Jerard V. Gordon
Journal of materials research
03 Sep 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-026-01964-w
Featured in Collection :   Drexel's Newest Publications
url
https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-026-01964-wView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary Science & Technology Materials Science Technology
Functionally graded materials (FGMs) provide an avenue to combine two alloys with different primary benefits such as Ti-6Al-4 V (Ti64) and GRCop-42, which expands the bounds of engineering design possibilities. However, direct grading between Ti64 and GRCop-42 via laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) is limited by the formation of brittle Cu-Ti intermetallics. This study utilizes C103 (Nb-Hf-Ti) as a partially successful metallurgical bridge to bypass these deleterious phases. Thermodynamic calculation-informed design was validated through the fabrication of dense, crack-free unidirectional gradients. Mechanical integrity was evaluated using a "tensile sandwich" methodology with digital image correlation. While Ti64-C103 interfaces exhibited superior strength and 45% elongation, the transition from GRCop-42 to C103 revealed a critical thermal sink effect resulting in brittle cleavage failure due to rapid cooling and unforeseen Cu-Hf compounds. These results establish design rules for Ti-to-Cu FGMs and demonstrate the tensile sandwich as a robust protocol for characterizing multi-material additive manufacturing interfaces.

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