Additive manufacturing with nanofunctionalized precursors

A process for additive manufacturing of a nanofunctionalized metal alloy, said process comprising:

• (a) selecting one or more metals;
• (b) selecting one or more grain-refining nanoparticles;
• (c) utilizing a lattice-matching algorithm and a crystallographic database to calculate lattice mismatch between said one or more grain-refining nanoparticles and said one or more metals;
• (d) providing a nanofunctionalized metal precursor containing said one or more metals and said grain-refining nanoparticles that are chemically and/or physically disposed on surfaces of said one or more metals, wherein said grain-refining nanoparticles are lattice-matched to within ±5%, as calculated in step (c), compared to a metal alloy containing said one or more metals but not said grain-refining nanoparticles;
• (e) exposing a first amount of said nanofunctionalized metal precursor to an energy source for melting said first amount of said nanofunctionalized metal precursor, thereby generating a first melt layer;
• (f) solidifying said first melt layer, thereby generating a nanofunctionalized metal alloy first solid layer;
• and
• (g) repeating steps (e) and (f) a plurality of times to generate a plurality of solid layers by sequentially solidifying a plurality of melt layers in an additive-manufacturing build direction, thereby generating an additively manufactured, nanofunctionalized metal alloy, wherein said plurality of solid layers has an average layer thickness of at least 10 microns,
• wherein said additively manufactured, nanofunctionalized metal alloy has a microstructure with equiaxed grains that are characterized by an average grain size of less than 10 microns, and
• wherein said additively manufactured, nanofunctionalized metal alloy has a microstructure that is substantially crack-free.