<p> The Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process is a manufacturing technique that facilitates the  production of metallic parts with complex geometries and reduces both materials waste and lead  time. The high tunability of the process parameters in SLM allows the design of the as-built part’s  characteristics, such as controlled microstructure formation, residual stresses, presence of pores,  and lack of fusion. The main parameter in the SLM process that influences these parts’  characteristics is the transient temperature field resulting from the laser-matter interaction.  Nanosecond pulsed lasers in SLM have the advantage of enabling rapid and localized heating and  cooling that make the formation of ultrafine grains possible. This work shows how different pulse  durations can change the near-surface microstructure and overall mechanical properties of metallic  parts. The nanosecond pulses can melt and resolidify aluminum parts’ near-surface region to form nanograined gradient structures with yield strengths as high as 250.8 MPa and indentation  strengths as high as 725 MPa, which are comparable to some steel's mechanical properties. Knowing that the nanosecond pulsed lasers cause microstructure refinement for high-purity metals,  the microstructure variations effects were also investigated for the cast iron alloy. Cast iron was  used alone and mixed with born or boron nitride powders to induce the precipitation of  strengthening phases only enabled under high cooling rates. Although producing parts with  superior mechanical properties and controlling the precipitation of strengthening phases, the SLM  process with nanosecond pulsed lasers is still accompanied by defects formation, mainly explained  by the large thermal gradients, keyhole effect, reduced melt pool depth, and rapid cooling rates.  Ideally, a smooth heating rate able to sinter powder grains, facilitating the heat flow through the  heat-affected zone, followed by a sharper heating rate that generates a fully molten region, but  minimizes ablation at the same time are targeted to reduce the porosity and lack of fusion. Then, a  sharp cooling rate that can increase the nucleation rate, consequently refining the final  microstructure is targeted in the production of strong materials in SLM with pulsed lasers. This  work is the pioneer in controlling the transient temperature field during the heating and cooling  stages in pulsed laser processing. The temperature field control capability by shaping a nanosecond  laser pulse in the time domain affecting defects formation, residual strains, and microstructure was  achieved, opening a wide research niche in the additive manufacturing field.  </p>

<p>Additive manufacturing of gun propellants is an emerging and promising field which addresses the limitations of conventional manufacturing techniques. Gun propellants are manufactured using wetted extrusion, which uses volatile solvents and dies of limited and constant geometries. On the other hand, additive techniques are faced with the challenges of maintaining the gun propellant’s energetic content as well as its structural integrity during high pressure combustion. The work presented in this thesis demonstrates the feasibility of producing functioning gun propellant grains using vibration-assisted 3D printing, a novel method which has been shown to extrude extremely viscous materials such as clays and propellant pastes. At first, the technique is compared to screw-driven additive methods which have been used in printing gun propellant pastes with slightly lower energetic content. In chapter two, diethylene glycol dinitrate (DEGDN), a highly energetic plasticizer, was investigated due to its potential to replace nitroglycerin in double base propellants with high nitroglycerin content. A novel isoconversional method was applied to analyze its decomposition kinetics. The ignition and lifetime values of diethylene glycol dinitrate were obtained using the new isoconversional method, in order to assess the safety of using the plasticizer in a modified double base propellant. In chapter three, a modified double base propellant (M8D) containing DEGDN was additively manufactured using VAP. The printed strands had little to no porosity, and their density was nearly equal to the theoretical maximum density of the mixture. The strands were burned at high pressures in a Crawford bomb and the burning was visualized using high speed cameras. The burning rate equation as a function of the M8D propellant as a function of pressure was obtained. Overall, this work shows that VAP is capable of printing highly energetic gun propellants with low solvent content, low porosity, with high printing speeds, and which have consistent burning characteristics at high pressures. </p>