MEPhI and Skoltech: Technology of 3D printing of products from amorphous zirconium alloys

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• 3D Printing (Additive Manufacturing)
• 3D printing (additive technologies) in Russia

2024: Development of 3D printing technology for products made of amorphous zirconium alloys

Scientists from the Laboratory of Rapidly Set Materials NRNU MEPhI together with colleagues from Skoltech have developed a technology for 3D printing of products from amorphous zirconium alloys. The university announced this on July 25, 2024.

source = MEPhI

According to Aleksey Suchkov, associate professor of the Department of Physical Problems of Materials Science at NRNU MEPhI, metals in ordinary alloys have a crystalline structure, but if you cool the melt at a very high speed, you can suppress the crystallization process. If high cooling rates are achieved, tens of thousands and even millions of degrees per second, the result is a material with a supercooled liquid structure in which there are no crystallites.

The material is relatively homogeneous, isotropic and with unique properties. After all, the properties of any material depend not only on the chemical composition, but also on its structure. In everyday life, window glass has an amorphous structure, and we achieve a similar structure in zirconium alloys, the scientist explained.

Theoretically, such a zirconium-based alloy is very light and has high strength, elasticity and high corrosion resistance. However, the manufacture of articles from such alloys faces many technical problems. Since the material has a metastable non-equilibrium structure, when exposed to temperature, the material will transition to a crystalline state. Therefore, the operating temperature range is limited. For example, amorphous zirconium-based alloys will crystallize at temperatures of about 350-500 C.

After a number of preliminary studies, scientists at NRNU MEPhI came to the conclusion that the most promising technology for creating products from amorphous zirconium-based alloys is 3D printing based on SLM - selective laser melting. Colleagues from Skoltech helped MEPhI scientists in the development of this technology.

An important condition for using 3D printing technology is the presence of high-quality raw materials - metal powder. The technology for preparing powder based on zirconium alloys was developed by scientists from the NRNU MEPhI together with colleagues from the Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science named after A.A. Baykov RAS.

As of July 2024, scientists have already managed to print a number of samples of products from amorphous zirconium-based alloys. According to Alexei Suchkov, first of all, this technology could be used to create products used in low temperature conditions, where ordinary metals become fragile.

In the future, scientists plan to begin work on a technology for producing biocompatible and composite materials based on amorphous alloys.