scholarly journals Study of Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of As-built and Heat-treated Additive Manufactured Inconel 718 Alloy

Author(s):  
Ajay Kumar Maurya ◽  
Amit Kumar

Additive manufacturing technology is becoming popular in the industry because it allows the manufacturer to fabricate cost-effective, strong, lightweight, and complex-shaped parts directly from 3D design data as compared with the conventional manufacturing method. Inconel 718 alloy is the most demanding material in aviation as well as in the automobile industry, in terms of manufacturing high-performance parts. In this study, Inconel 718 samples were built using the direct metal laser sintering process, and standard heat treatment was performed on the samples to improve their microstructure and mechanical properties. The as-built samples exhibited good grain structure with fine laves phases, but the matrix was free from ?' and ?" phases. During the heat treatment, the strengthening phases ?' and ?" precipitated. The mechanical properties of as-built and heat-treated samples were analysed and compared. Tensile tests revealed that the direct-aged sample had the higher tensile strength compared with the other conditions, whereas the as-built samples had higher ductility. Finally, fractography and microstructure analysis were performed to measure the failure modes of tensile specimens.

2011 ◽  
Vol 1363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuk Hyun Song ◽  
Han Sol Kim ◽  
Won Yong Kim

ABSTRACTIn order to investigate the formation of precipitates such as MC carbides and intermetallic compounds in the friction stir welded and post-heat-treated Inconel 718 alloy, this work was carried out. Furthermore, the microstructural and mechanical properties of welds and post-heat-treated material were evaluated to identify the effect on precipitates formed during post-heat-treatment. Friction stir welding (FSW) was performed at a rotation speed of 200 rpm and welding speed of 150 mm/min; heat treatment was performed after welding at 720 °C for 8 hours in vacuum. As a result, the grain size due to FSW was notably refined from 5–20 μm in the base material to 1–3 μm in the stir zone; this was accompanied by dynamic recrystallization, which resulted in enhancements in the mechanical properties as compared to the base material. In particular, applying heat treatment after FSW led to improvements in the mechanical properties of the welds—the microhardness and tensile strength increased by more than 50% and 40% in fraction, respectively, as compared to FSW alone.


2014 ◽  
Vol 217-218 ◽  
pp. 332-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Kang Liang ◽  
Da Quan Li ◽  
Pascal Côté ◽  
Stephen P. Midson ◽  
Qiang Zhu

The spheroidal grains in billets used for semi-solid casting are generally manufactured by electromagnetic stirring (EMS) during the casting process. This method however, is not economically applicable for small quantities of the thixo billets. Swirled Enthalpy Equilibration Device (SEED) has been developed as a rheocasting process, and the SEED process is of interest for developing new thixo alloys, as well as for optimizing the thixocasting processes for high quality components. The objective of this paper is to compare the microstructure and mechanical properties of aluminum alloy 319s billets and castings produced using EMS and SEED feed materials. The experimental results show that for as-cast billets made from SEED process, a well-developed spheroidal grain structure is distributed throughout the cross-section of the billet, while for as-cast EMS billets, the grain structure is inhomogeneous, i.e., a dendritic structure was present adjacent to the surface of the billet, while a uniform, spheroidal structure was present at the centre. After the thixocasting process, however, the both SEED and EMS billets have well-developed, spheroidal grain structures. Mechanical properties of thixocast and T61 heat treated components are comparable for the both SEED and EMS billets.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 1739-1749
Author(s):  
Saad Waqar ◽  
Jiangwei Liu ◽  
Qidong Sun ◽  
Kai Guo ◽  
Jie Sun

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the influence of different post-annealing cooling conditions, i.e. furnace cooling (heat treatment (HT) 1 – slow cooling) and air cooling (HT 2 – fast cooling), on the microstructure and mechanical properties of selective laser melting (SLM) built austenitic 316L stainless steel (SS). Design/methodology/approach Three sets of 316L SS samples were fabricated using a machine standard scanning strategy. Each set consists of three tensile samples and a cubic sample for microstructural investigations. Two sets were subsequently subjected to annealing HT with different cooling conditions, i.e. HT 1 and HT 2, whereas one set was used in the as-built (AB) condition. The standard metallographic techniques of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and electron back-scattered diffraction were used to investigate the microstructural variations induced by different cooling conditions. The resultant changes in mechanical properties were also investigated. Findings The phase change of SLM fabricated 316L was observed to be independent of the investigated cooling conditions and all samples consist of austenite phase only. Both HT 1 and HT 2 lead to dissolved characteristic melt pools of SLM. Noticeable increase in grain size of HT 1 and HT 2 samples was also observed. Compared with AB samples, the grain size of HT 1 and HT 2 was increased by 12.5% and 50%, respectively. A decreased hardness and strength, along with an increased ductility was also observed for HT 2 samples compared with HT 1 and AB samples. Originality/value From previous studies, it has been noticed that most investigations on HT of SLM fabricated 316L were mainly focused on the HT temperature or holding time. However, the post-HT cooling rate is also an equally important factor in deciding the microstructure and mechanical properties of heat-treated components. Therefore, this paper investigates the influence of different post-annealing cooling conditions on microstructure and mechanical properties of SLM fabricated 316L components. This study provides a foundation for considering the post-HT cooling rate as an influential parameter that controls the properties of heat-treated SLM components.


2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hee Jae Kang ◽  
Jung Min Kim ◽  
Sung Hwan Jee ◽  
Jie Hyun Sung ◽  
Young Hee Kim ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 765 ◽  
pp. 511-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Da Quan Li ◽  
Xiao Kang Liang ◽  
Fu Bao Yang ◽  
You Feng He ◽  
Fan Zhang ◽  
...  

The evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties during solution and ageing heat treatment process was studied in terms of a thixo-diecast impeller of 319s aluminium alloy. The cast alloy exhibited a microstructure consisting of primary uniformly distributed in α-Al globules and the eutectics. A series of heat treatment studies were performed to determine optimum heat treatment parameters, in order to achieve fine grain structure, fine silicon particles and optimal precipitate size and distribution. Optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed to study the evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties. The results demonstrate that, the full T6 heat treatments are successfully applied to thixo-diecast 319s impellers. A two-step solution heat treatment is employed to prevent porosity due to overheating. The tensile properties of thixo-diecast 319s impellers were substantially enhanced after T6 heat treatment. The plate-shaped θ′ precipitates and lath-shaped Q′ precipitates are the most effective for precipitation strengthening.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document