NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology

07/30/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/31/2026 03:12

Thermo-hydrogen refinement and precipitation hardening of laser powder bed fusion Ti-6Al-4V

Published
July 30, 2026

Author(s)

Nicholas Derimow, Brady Butler, Zachary Levin, Jake Benzing, Joshua Cline, Nikolas Hrabe

Abstract

This work investigates the efficacy of solution treatment and over-aging (STOA) as a post-processing step to improve the mechanical properties of laser powder bed fusion (PBF-L) Ti-6Al-4V that has been subjected to a thermo-hydrogen refinement of microstructure (THRM) treatment. THRM was used to promote ductility and globularization of the PBF-L Ti-6Al-4V microstructure, whereas STOA was leveraged to increase the strength through precipitation hardening from coherent Ti3Al particles within the α phase, known as the α2 phase. An increase in hardness across the α phase was measured via nanoindentation, and a small increase in strength was measured as result of over-aging via quasi-static tensile testing, with no loss in ductility, both of which are consistent with previous studies of Ti3Al precipitation leading to increased strength without ductility losses.
Citation
Technical Note (NIST TN) - 2380
Report Number
2380
NIST Pub Series
Pub Type
NIST Pubs

Keywords

Ti-6Al-4V, PBF-L, hydrogen treatment, precipitation hardening, additive manufacturing

Citation

Derimow, N. , Butler, B. , Levin, Z. , Benzing, J. , Cline, J. and Hrabe, N. (2026), Thermo-hydrogen refinement and precipitation hardening of laser powder bed fusion Ti-6Al-4V, Technical Note (NIST TN), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2380, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960952 (Accessed July 31, 2026)
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NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology published this content on July 30, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on July 31, 2026 at 09:12 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]