3D printing nickel single crystals using laser additive manufacturing technology

Engineers have succeeded in fabricating a nickel single crystal with only a very few crystalline defects by irradiating nickel powder with a large-radius, flat-top laser beam (i.e., a laser beam whose intensity is uniform across a cross-section of the beam). This technique may be used to fabricate a wide variety of single-crystalline materials, including heat-resistant materials for jet engines and gas turbines.
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