The Effect of Location and Post-treatment on the Microstructure of EBM-Built Alloy 718

Additive manufacturing (AM) of Ni-based superalloys such as Alloy 718 may obviate the need for difficult machining and welding operations associated with geometrically intricate parts, thus potentially expanding design possibilities and facilitating cost-effective manufacture of complex components. However, processing AM builds completely free from defects, which may impair mechanical properties such as fatigue and ductility, is challenging. Anisotropic properties, microstructural heterogeneities and local formation of undesired phases are additional concerns that have motivated post-treatment of AM builds. This work investigates the microstructural changes associated with post-treatment of Alloy 718 specimens produced by Electron Beam Melting (EBM) for as-built microstructures at 3 build heights: near base plate, in the middle of build and near the top of the build. Two different post-treatment conditions, hot isostatic pressing (HIP) alone and a combined HIP with solutionising and two-step aging were examined and compared to the results for the as-built condition. The influence of various post-treatments on minor phase distributions (δ, γ″, carbides), overall porosity, longitudinal grain widths and Vickers microhardness was considered. The HIP treatment led to significant reduction in overall porosity and dissolution of δ phase, which led to appreciable grain growth for both post-treatment conditions. The variation in hardness noted as a function of build height for the as-built specimens was eliminated after post-treatment. Overall, the hardness was found to decrease after HIP and increase after the full HIP, solutionising and aging treatment, which was attributed to dissolution of γ″ during HIP and its re-precipitation in subsequent heat treatment steps

The Effect of Location and Post-treatment on the Microstructure of EBM-Built Alloy 718

Additive manufacturing (AM) of Ni-based superalloys such as Alloy 718 may obviate the need for difficult machining and welding operations associated with geometrically intricate parts, thus potentially expanding design possibilities and facilitating cost-effective manufacture of complex components. However, processing AM builds completely free from defects, which may impair mechanical properties such as fatigue and ductility, is challenging. Anisotropic properties, microstructural heterogeneities and local formation of undesired phases are additional concerns that have motivated post-treatment of AM builds. This work investigates the microstructural changes associated with post-treatment of Alloy 718 specimens produced by Electron Beam Melting (EBM) for as-built microstructures at 3 build heights: near base plate, in the middle of build and near the top of the build. Two different post-treatment conditions, hot isostatic pressing (HIP) alone and a combined HIP with solutionising and two-step aging were examined and compared to the results for the as-built condition. The influence of various post-treatments on minor phase distributions (δ, γ″, carbides), overall porosity, longitudinal grain widths and Vickers microhardness was considered. The HIP treatment led to significant reduction in overall porosity and dissolution of δ phase, which led to appreciable grain growth for both post-treatment conditions. The variation in hardness noted as a function of build height for the as-built specimens was eliminated after post-treatment. Overall, the hardness was found to decrease after HIP and increase after the full HIP, solutionising and aging treatment, which was attributed to dissolution of γ″ during HIP and its re-precipitation in subsequent heat treatment steps

Design of Wear-Resistant Austenitic Steels for Selective Laser Melting

Type 316L stainless steel feedstock powder was modified by alloying with powders containing carbide/boride-forming elements to create improved wear-resistant austenitic alloys that can be readily processed by Selective Laser Melting. Fe-based alloys with high C, B, V, and Nb contents were thus produced, resulting in a microstructure that consisted of austenitic grains and a significant amount of hard carbides and borides. Heat treatments were performed to modify the carbide distribution and morphology. Optimal hard-phase spheroidization was achieved by annealing the proposed alloys at 1150 °C for 1 hour followed by water quenching. The total increase in hardness of samples containing 20 pct of C/B-rich alloy powder was of 82.7 pct while the wear resistance could be increased by a factor of 6