As is known to all, UIT can cause significant changes in AM fabrication mainly through the combined effect of surface plastic deformation and ultrasonic oscillation stress waves. Its most intuitive characteristic is to form a severe plastic deformation layer on the material's surface, obtaining a surface rheological microstructure by breaking the grains [
42,
43,
44,
45]. This effect can markedly improve the coarse microstructure with directional growth and promote the columnar to equiaxed transition (CET), leading to grain refinement [
46]. Another vital effect caused by UIT is restructuring the stress state and introducing residual compressive stresses that benefit the fabrication's overall properties. It effectively improves fabrication bending and deformation caused by unbalanced stress distribution and stress concentration during metal deposition. On this condition, the solidification crack can be significantly suppressed by introducing UIT in the additive manufacturing process of metals with high crack sensitivity, improving the fabrication quality. In addition, the multiple high-frequency transient impacts generated by UIT on the fabrication surface will smooth the micro-bumps, which is positive for improving the surface roughness. UIT can induce a series of changes in metal fabrications during the additive manufacturing process that leads to a significant improvement in the overall performance (including mechanical properties, fatigue strength [
47], wear resistance [
48], corrosion resistance, etc.). To illustrate the effects of UIT on AM fabrications, the description of microstructure evolution, stress state, surface state, defects, and comprehensive performance are made below.
3.1. Microstructure improvement and grain refinement
One of the most critical advantages of UIT in strengthening AM fabrication is to improve the microstructure and refine the grains. Xu [
49] found that introducing UIT can improve the microstructure state when fabricating high-strength Hastelloy X superalloy in laser directed energy deposition process. The microstructure comparison between fabrications with and without UIT is shown in
Figure 6. After applying UIT, a decrease in the proportion of columnar grains and an increase in the proportion of equiaxed grains are observed in the deposition. The average grain size decreases from 19.81 μm to 8.78 μm, and the primary dendrite spacing from the bottom to the top of the deposition varies from 13.35-27.62 μm (
Figure 6a) to 3.78-18.33μm (
Figure 6b). It indicates that UIT can effectively break the original columnar grains to form more uniform and refined grains. The broken and refined grains can also provide more nucleation sites in the subsequent deposition process, thus inducing grain refinement.
Sun [
50] obtained a similar result using UIT-assisted wire and arc wire additive manufacturing(WAAM) of low-carbon high-strength steel.
Figure 7 shows the macrostructure comparison of the deposited layers with and without UIT. It can be seen that the macrostructure without UIT consists of a large number of coarse columnar grains and a small number of equiaxed grains, which are common in the WAAM process, showing noticeable directional growth. However, after applying UIT, the macrostructure is mainly composed of equiaxed grains, and the grains are significantly refined, as shown in
Figure 7b. It means that UIT contributes to microstructure improvement and grain refinement in the additive manufacturing process and can effectively promote the transformation of columnar grains to equiaxed grains.
The reason for the microstructure improvement and grain refinement after UIT mainly comes from the severe plastic deformation of the material surface, which leads to dislocation multiplication within the grain and an increase in dislocation density [
51]. With the further accumulation of energy, several dislocation walls or dislocation cells are formed within the grain, which will increase in rotation angle. Then, the texture orientation increases between the adjacent substructures, which will transform into subgrains, leading to a complete large-angle grain boundary. Finally, many small grains are formed within the original single grain, achieving grain refinement [
52].
3.4. Defect healing
In additive manufacturing, the metal experiences a rapid melting, cooling, and complex gas environment, which is prone to form many internal defects, such as cracks and porosity. It will seriously affect the fabrication quality and cause stress concentrations, leading to failure. Researchers proposed that UIT is beneficial for improving the defects in the additive manufacturing process. Wang [
36] made an intelligent combination of direct energy deposition (DED) to moderate the crack susceptibility of Inconel 100 superalloys with high crack sensitivity.
Figure 10 shows the crack distribution of Inconel 100 superalloy fabrications in different treated conditions. It can be seen that before introducing interlayer UIT, a large number of cracks existed in the deposition and propagated along the deposition direction, which was considered a common problem during the rapid melting and solidification of nickel-based high-temperature alloys [
58,
59]. In this condition, the crack density of the deposition is about 8.9 mm/mm2, as shown in
Figure 10a. After being treated by interlayer UIT, the solidification cracking was significantly suppressed. The crack density was decreased to 4.2 mm/mm2 and 2.5 mm/mm2 when the impact load was 25 N and 50 N, respectively. It indicated that with the increase of impact load, although the solidification cracking still existed, the crack propagation was moderated, as shown in
Figure 10b,c. The cracks almost completely disappeared when the impact load was increased to 75 N, as shown in
Figure 10d.
On this basis, Wang [
60] also found that UIT could solve the problem of pores generated in the 2219 aluminum alloy WAAM process.
Figure 11 shows the distribution of pores in the deposition before and after UIT. It can be seen that a large number of micron-sized pores distribute inside the deposition under the influence of hydrogen ions generated by the arc. In this condition, the pore rate is about 19 pores/mm2, and the maximum pore diameter is about 120 mm. After being treated by UIT with 1A current, the pores are extruded from round to oval. The pore rate is reduced to 9 pores/mm2 (57.9% reduction), and the maximum pore size is reduced to 36 mm (70% reduction). When the current is increased to 2.5 A, the number and size of pores are further reduced. The pore rate is decreased to 3 pores/mm2 (84.2% reduction), and the maximum pore diameter is 28 mm (76.7% reduction).
3.5. Comprehensive performance strengthening
The above changes caused by UIT will eventually be reflected in the comprehensive performance of the material, such as mechanical properties, wear resistance, fatigue and corrosion resistance, etc. Diao [
61] used UIT to improve the mechanical properties of the ER321 stainless steel fabrications in the WAAM process, as shown in
Figure 12. After applying UIT, yield strength (YS) increases from 380MPa to 425MPa (10.5% increase), ultimate tensile strength (UTS) increases from 667MPa to 694MPa (3.7% increase), total elongation (TE) increases from 48% to 50%, uniform elongations (UE) increases from 36% to 37%. The average microhardness increases from 195.27 HV
0.3 to 223.42 HV
0.3 (12.5% increase). The improvement in tensile properties is mainly attributed to grain refinement, as described by the Hall-Patch equation:
where σ
y is the strength of the material, σ
0 is the friction stress, K
y is a constant, and d is the grain size. From the equation, it can be inferred that the tensile properties of the metal material will be improved as the grain size decreases under the UIT effect. The change in hardness comes mainly from surface plastic deformation that can lead to deformation strengthening [
62]. With increasing the distance from the treated surface, the effect of UIT gradually decreases, which causes a decrease in hardness increment until it reaches the same level as the deposition [
63]. The increase in hardness caused by UIT is also beneficial for the wear resistance, which can be explained on the basis of Holms & Archards wear theory. The relationship between hardness and wear amount can be expressed in the following way:
where V is the material wear volume, W is the applied wear load, H is the material hardness, and P is the wear constant associated with the wear mechanism and material. In addition to the hardness increment, the residual compressive stress and grain refinement introduced by UIT also play an essential role in improving the fabrication wear resistance.
It has been found that UIT is also effective in improving the fatigue life of fabrications. Trudel [
64] introduced UIT in the process of Ti-6Al-4V deposition fabricated by direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) additive manufacturing. The results indicated that after applying UIT, the fatigue endurance limit was increased by 25%, and the average fatigue life increase by 250% at all stress levels, as shown in
Figure 13. The ability of UIT to improve the fatigue strength and prolong the fatigue life of the material is mainly due to the positive effects in grain refinement, strength and hardness improvement, and stress reconstruction. Grain refinement can improve the slip deformation resistance, inhibit the formation of cyclic slip bands and cracking, and increase the grain boundary resistance to crack expansion, which is conducive to prolonging the fatigue life of the material. When fatigue failure occurs, crack initiation tends to occur in the area of stress concentration. UIT can promote stress redistribution to eliminate residual tensile stress and moderate stress concentration in this case. In addition, the introduction of residual compressive stress has a particular effect on counteracting the tensile stresses during cyclic loading and preventing fatigue crack propagation. It can effectively improve the fatigue performance of the material. Another vital reason for fatigue improvement is the severe plastic deformation caused by UIT that can increase the hardness of the material surface. It is mainly due to the massive proliferation of dislocations within the metal material, increasing dislocation density. In this condition, the resistance to dislocation movement is increased under fatigue alternating load, preventing the formation of fatigue cracks and delaying fatigue failure. Thus, an increase in the fatigue life of the material is achieved. Recent research also supports that these changes positively improve the fatigue life of materials [
65,
66,
67].
It can be concluded from the above effects of UIT on metal AM fabrications that after UIT, the grain size, microstructure morphology, stress state, surface roughness, defects, and comprehensive performance (including mechanical properties, wear resistance, and fatigue performance) will be significantly improved and strengthened. The above beneficial effects are closely related to the modes of action (plastic deformation and ultrasonic oscillation) during the UIT process, as shown in
Figure 14. When UIT acts on the metal fabrication, the impact needle will produce severe plastic deformation on the deposition surface in a very short time. The deformation will preferentially occur in the raised position of the surface, reducing the gap between the raised and depressed area. It plays the role of flattening to improve the surface roughness. Severe plastic deformation will also cause dislocation proliferation, significantly increasing dislocations' density. Under such influence, dislocation is gradually transformed into a large number of substructures within the grain, forming new grains to achieve grain refinement. In this process, the proliferation of dislocation and grain refinement will effectively increase the hardness of the deposition surface and then improve the fabrication's tensile properties and wear resistance. The ultrasonic oscillation and the impact stress wave in the ultrasonic impact process are also the main ways to achieve energy transfer in the UIT process. Their compound effect will redistribute the unsteady residual tensile stress caused by the additive manufacturing process, moderate the stress concentration effectively, and introduce the residual compressive stress. These contribute to offsetting the influence of alternating fatigue loads on the fabrication, achieving to suppress crack formation, and preventing crack propagation. It can improve the fatigue performance and eliminate the internal defects of the fabrication. These beneficial changes caused by UIT can significantly contribute to the improvement in the overall engineering properties of metallic parts [
68,
69], which is one of the critical reasons for the widespread use of UIT.
From the effect of UIT on metallic fabrications, it can be seen that in the process of AM assisted by UIT, the achievement of the strengthening effect is accompanied by multiple energy transformations and multi-energy field compound action. So, in order to obtain a better strengthening effect, it is of positive significance to analyze and reveal the strengthening mechanism of AM assisted by UIT. Some research suggested that the main way to achieve UIT strengthening comes from the plastic deformation on the surface of the deposition [
70,
71]. Xu [
49] proposed that the plastic deformation on the surface after UIT led to a significant accumulation of original free dislocations and promoted an extensive proliferation of dislocations and a considerable increase in dislocation density, as shown in
Figure 15. Based on this, the nucleation potential was reduced by the dislocation with high density in the remelting zone piled up because of shrinkage strain, hindering the movement of dislocations and slip to improve the tensile strength. Furthermore, columnar grains were broken, providing more nucleation sites to achieve grain refinement.
Wang [
53] gave a more detailed and in-depth analysis of the microstructure evolution pattern and strengthening mechanism when depositing Inconel 718 alloy with laser directed energy deposition (DED) assisted by UIT.
Figure 16 shows the TEM images of the dislocation structure at a distance of 200 μm from the surface of the deposition before and after UIT. As seen in the figure, the mechanical twinning caused by the severe plastic deformation caused is visible after UIT. The mechanical twinning is a result of deformation induction [
72,
73] and an important sign of recrystallization [
74,
75]. Thus, the severe plastic deformation caused by UIT is responsible for the dislocations and stacking faults in the deposition. It is influenced by the heat effect from the subsequent depositing, leading to recrystallization. The deformation twinning and recrystallization are the main reasons for mechanical property strengthening and microstructure refinement.
However, some research has suggested that the UIT strengthening effect is not only related to the formation of substructures induced by dislocation multiplication and proliferation of dislocations but also influenced by the effect of ultrasonic oscillations. Siu [
76] found that when using UIT to strengthen the polycrystalline aluminum plates, a large number of subgrains were formed in the region with a certain depth under the combined effect of quasi-static loading and ultrasonic oscillations. In comparison, no obvious subgrains could be observed when only applying quasi-static loads or ultrasonic oscillation. In this process, dislocation dipole annihilation is the key to subgrain formation. When the oscillatory stress wave is superimposed on the unidirectional driving stress, the annihilation of the dislocation dipole is greatly enhanced. The ratio of dislocation annihilation comes to 53% when only quasi-static load is applied. The ratio of dislocation annihilation counts for only 3% when only ultrasonic oscillation is applied. However, the ratio of dislocation annihilation reaches 74% when affected by the combined effect of quasi-static load and ultrasonic oscillation. It is mainly because the superimposed oscillatory stress can make the dislocations move farther and promote their merging and annihilation. Therefore, the combined effect of quasi-static loading and ultrasonic oscillation will substantially increase the motion range of dislocations and promote their merging and annihilation during the motion, forming many subgrains, as shown in
Figure 17.
The formation of these substructures is distinctly different from that induced by severe plastic deformation on the surface. The substructures generated by the stress waves and ultrasonic oscillations show a wider range of action. In contrast, the substructures induced by dislocation proliferation due to deformation are only limited to the vicinity of the plastic deformation layer. The substructures caused by the plastic deformation will be largely affected by the interlayer remelting (because the depth of the plastic deformation layer is generally only 0.1-0.2mm [
77]), and the effect of interlayer strengthening can be guaranteed only when the depth of action is greater than the remelting depth [
78].
It can be inferred from the above elaboration on the strengthening mechanism of AM assisted by UIT that the recrystallization occurs under plastic deformation, ultrasonic oscillation, and interlayer thermal effects, which is the main reason for strengthening. The strengthening mechanisms and microstructure evolution can be revealed in
Figure 18 [
50]. It can be seen that before applying UIT, the weaker thermal diffusion ability of intragranular dislocations limits their ability to avoid obstacles by jumping to adjacent slip systems, as shown in
Figure 18a. The movement of dislocations usually occurs during the loading stage of the stress wave when UIT is conducted. Each impact generates severe plastic deformation on the surface of the treated deposition, causing a significant proliferation of dislocations. However, as the distance from the surface plastic deformation layer increases, the effect of dislocation proliferation gradually decreases. After being far away from the plastic deformation layer, the intermittent impact load and oscillation brought by UIT help a part of the pinned dislocations break free from the surroundings [
79], enabling dislocations to move continuously. This process, in turn, promotes many dislocations to merge and annihilate, and dislocation walls or cells are gradually formed, as shown in
Figure 18b. After this process is repeated, the dislocation walls or cells evolve further and eventually exist as subgrains inside the grains, as shown in
Figure 18c. The subgrains will be affected by the subsequent interlayer heating to cause recrystallization, and then new grains are formed, thus achieving grain refinement, as shown in
Figure 18d.