Abstract An efficient method to fabricate titanium nitride (TiN)-doped titanium (Ti) nanocomposites through a combination of plasma milling, plasma spheroidization, and laser sara stedy stand aid powder bed fusion (LPBF) was developed to obtain Ti-based materials with high strength and ductility from commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti).Nitrogen plasma milling and plasma spheroidization were used to fabricate Ti-TiN nanocomposites, which were mixed with CP-Ti powder at a 1:9 ratio and printed by LPBF forming.The resulting materials possessed a dual-scale morphology with both coarse lath-like and fine acicular-like seattle seahawks socks grains.The Ti-TiN nanocomposites possessed higher hardness and tensile strength and lower ductility than those of the control sample without TiN.The mechanical properties of the LPBF-printed Ti-TiN nanocomposites were improved compared with those of LPBF-printed CP-Ti because of the TiN particles and resulting dual-scale structure.
Nitrogen plasma milling provides a simple route to fabricate TiN nanophase-reinforced Ti-based nanocomposites suitable for LPBF printing.Graphical Abstract.