Ancillary Processes for High-Quality Additive Manufacturing: A Review of Microstructure and Mechanical Properties Improvement

Metal additive manufacturing is a method of producing metallic parts layer-by-layer. Some drawbacks, including anisotropy in mechanical properties, detrimental residual stresses, and the presence of columnar grain structures can affect the quality and performance of additively manufactured metallic parts. Therefore, different industrial sectors have employed intuitive ancillary processes to improve the quality of additively manufactured parts. Of particular interest is in-situ ancillary processes that are more applicable than other procedures due to their utmost importance to reduce manufacturing cycle time. In this review article, after introducing various metal additive manufacturing technologies, some of the common alloys utilized in those processes were discussed. With an eye toward improving the quality of additively manufactured components, the focus of the review was then shifted toward the effects of building direction, processing parameters, and Alloying composition Modification on microstructure and mechanical properties. The efficacy of ancillary processes such as metalworking, in-situ heat treatment, and in-situ thermo hydrogen process in reducing defects and improving physical and mechanical properties was then presented.