Research progress of TiAl-based alloys fabricated by additive manufacturing

TiAl-based alloys have the excellent high-temperature properties as a highly competitive new lightweight high-temperature structural material, showing the broad development prospect and application potential in the automotive, military, aerospace, and other fields. However, because of the nature and inherent brittleness, the TiAl-based alloys are difficult to form, which inhibits the further development and the practical application. The additive manufacturing based on the forming idea of "discrete + accumulation" represents the most advanced and potential forming technology for the TiAl-based alloys, which uses the laser, electron beam, and arc as the high energy heat source to melt wires or powders and then stack them layer by layer. The research progress of TiAl-based alloys prepared by laser additive manufacturing, electron beam selective melting, and wire and arc additive manufacturing was summarized in this paper, and the future research direction of the TiAl-based alloys fabricated by additive manufacturing was prospected.