materials Article Comparative Quality Control of Titanium Alloy Ti–6Al–4V, 17–4 PH Stainless Steel, and Aluminum Alloy 4047 Either Manufactured or Repaired by Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) Noam Eliaz 1,* , Nitzan Foucks 1,2, Dolev Geva 3, Shai Oren 2, Noy Shriki 2, Danielle Vaknin 2, Dimitry Fishman 2 and Ofer Levi 2 1 Biomaterials and Corrosion Lab, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel;
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[email protected] (D.V.); dimitry.fi
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[email protected]; Tel.: +972-3-640-7384 Received: 21 August 2020; Accepted: 15 September 2020; Published: 19 September 2020 Abstract: Additive manufacturing attracts much interest for manufacturing and repair of structural parts for the aerospace industry. This paper presents comparative characterization of aircraft items made of Al 4047 alloy, Ti-6Al-4V alloy, and 17-4 precipitation hardened (PH) (AISI 630) stainless steel, either manufactured or repaired by laser engineered net shaping (LENS). Chemical analysis, density, and surface roughness measurements, X-ray micro-computed tomography (µ-CT) analysis, metallography, and micro-hardness testing were conducted. In all three materials, microstructures typical of rapid solidification were observed, along with high density, chemical composition, and hardness comparable to those of the counterpart wrought alloys (even in hard condition).