Factor which governs the feature of texture developed during additive manufacturing; clarified from the study on hexagonal C40-NbSi₂

C40-NbSi₂ with a hexagonal unit cell is focused as a high-temperature structural material. We first attempted the fabrication of the bulk C40-NbSi₂ products via selective laser melting (SLM) in additive manufacturing (AM) process. Strong crystallographic texture control wherein <0001> was parallel to the building direction, i.e. development of the so-called basal fiber texture, was achieved in this study. The texture developed in products does not largely vary by changing the scanning strategy, unlike the textures of C11_b-MoSi₂ with a tetragonal unit cell and a β-Ti alloy with a cubic unit cell. A comparison of these results led us to the conclusion that crystal symmetry, i.e., the multiplicity of the preferential crystal growth direction, is one of the primary factors that governs the features of the textures developed in AM-built materials.