Crack in Metal: Why 3D-Printed Parts Fail Sooner
A metal part grown on a 3D printer looks indistinguishable from a forged one. But when load is applied, a very different story unfolds inside. A synchrotron X-ray beam is like a microscope that sees through steel and reveals what's happening right at the crack tip.
In ordinary forged steel, a crack blunts before it can propagate further.