Abstract
In powder bed fusion (PBF)-based additive manufacturing, three-dimensional products are fabricated by the accumulation of
minute solidified sections based on tiny melt pools, each of which has dimensions of about 100 μm. Therefore, the solidification
structure of PBF-fabricated material is characterized by periodic repetitions on a scale smaller than the melt pool size. This is
quite different from casting, in which solidification progresses more macroscopically and transitions of, for example, segregation
and grain characteristics occur on a macroscopic scale. In other words, it is possible to obtain a product with a homogeneous
microstructure throughout by homogeneously controlling solidification behavior in each melt pool in a PBF. This article reviews
the relationship between solidification behavior in the melt pools and melt pool geometry, and evolved microstructure, especially
crystallographic texture. It also discusses how such texture control contributes to mechanical properties of metallic materials from
view points of an environment and energy.
