Materials reference
Titanium Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 5 / Grade 23)
What is it?
Ti-6Al-4V is a strong, lightweight titanium alloy. It is often considered when a part needs high strength without the weight of many steels.
Why would someone print it?
Metal 3D printing can create complex titanium shapes while reducing some material waste that can come from machining the same geometry from a solid block.
What should a beginner know?
- Titanium powder is reactive and must be handled under controlled conditions.
- Printed titanium may require heat treatment and finishing before it has the properties required for the final application.
What happens after printing?
Printed parts may need heat treatment, support removal, machining, finishing and inspection before they are accepted. Powder feedstock is often the largest consumable in LPBF economics — public powder price evidence, where records exist, is collected by alloy on its own page.
What is an alloy?
What does this mean? An alloy is a defined metal composition. Why does it matter? Composition, process settings and post-processing affect the finished part.
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Technical material evidence
The titanium alloy behind most metal AM aerospace and medical volume: very high strength-to-weight with good fatigue behavior, so it justifies AM cost where every gram is expensive or where topology reduction replaces machined billets. The AM-specific catch is chemistry: titanium readily absorbs oxygen and other interstitials, so powder condition, inert-gas discipline and layer-level process control show up directly in ductility and fatigue of the printed part. Grade 5 (mill product conventions) and Grade 23 (extra-interstitials-controlled powder feedstock) are not interchangeable assumptions — verify the feedstock grade, oxygen limits and lot evidence.
LPBF · process-family reference. Nominal alloy properties and printed-part properties are different evidence — the table and sections below separate what is verified from what needs your qualified process.
| Property | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Designations | Ti-6Al-4V UNS R56400 ISO 5887 Gr5 (W.Nr 1.6752) Grade 23 ELI = ASTM F136OEM ↗ · Source reviewed |
| Nominal material density | 4.429 g/cm³THIRD-PARTY ↗ · Source reviewed |
| Powder price | Current supplier quote required No public powder list price was captured in the supplied source review. Obtain a current supplier quote. |
Post-processing evidence
Stress relief 2 h @800C in argon (EOS data sheet); acicular alpha-prime as-built
OEM ↗ · Source reviewedThis is a research summary, not a production heat-treatment instruction. Use the current OEM material datasheet, qualified parameter set and application-specific acceptance requirements.
Machine and process compatibility
| Referenced platform | Evidence scope |
|---|---|
| EOS LPBF line (4 SKU variants incl ELI) | Portfolio evidence only; exact machine, parameters and qualification must be confirmedOEM ↗ · Source reviewed |
| Colibrium M Line | Portfolio evidence only; exact machine, parameters and qualification must be confirmedOEM ↗ · Source reviewed |
Manufacturing considerations
- brittle alpha-prime as-built without stress relief
- anisotropy
- reactive powder - inert gas critical