Crack healing via electropulsing treatment applied to additive-manufactured TiC/316L stainless steel composites

Three coupons of TiC/316L stainless steel composites were fabricated by laser-based directed energy deposition (DED-LB). One coupon is crack-free, and the other two coupons have cracks inside. Electropulsing treatment (EPT) was applied to heal the cracks, with various current densities and 75 pulses on each sample. The cracks with widths of 0–200 μm can be healed by EPT. The microstructure of the healed region consists of refined fractured TiC particles and resolidified fine austenite grains. The EPT is able to potentially be applied to heal the defects or cracks in additive-manufactured metal-matrix composites.