Shaping and mechanical performance of gelcasting Ti6Al4V alloys with paraffin wax and stearic acid coated on powder surface

Abstract In this study, the shaping and mechanical performance of Ti6Al4V alloys prepared by gelcasting were systematically studied. To prevent from oxygen and carbon impurity contamination, the powder surface was coated with 0.3 wt.% of paraffin wax (PW) and 0.3 wt.% of stearic acid (SA). Consequently, the carbon and oxygen contents decreased from 4064 ppm to 2341 ppm and from 3507 ppm to 2879 ppm, respectively. The improvement of relative density from 94% to 97% was also achieved with PW/SA coating. Relatively dense microstructure was observed. Besides, the as-sintered sample also exhibited comprehensive mechanical properties, about 1029 MPa in tensile strength, 967 MPa in yield strength, and 6.4% in elongation. The present method showed good potential for fabricating complex-shaped and high-performance Ti parts for application with low cost.