Damping and mechanical properties of M2052 alloy fabricated by laser powder bed fusion: The influence of layer thickness

Increasing the powder layer thickness could explore a 〈001〉 texture for improving damping capacity and mechanical properties, and enhance the material deposition rates for Mn-Cu alloys during laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The present work studied the defect variants, microstructural evolution, damping capacity, and mechanical properties of as-built M2052 alloy fabricated using different powder layer thicknesses of 30, 60, 90, and 120 μm. The 30 μm sample has the lowest porosity and the highest damping peak of 0.016. Owing to refinement of cellular structure, the 60 μm sample exhibits an optimal strength-ductility synergy (YS of 360 MPa, UTS of 477 MPa, and EL of 27.0%). With an increase in layer thickness, an increase in the number and size of unmelted defects and keyholes is observed significantly.