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Title: Laser powder bed fusion of Inconel 718 on 316 stainless steel

Journal Article · · Additive Manufacturing
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States); Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States)

The joining of Inconel 718 and 316 stainless steel has notable industrial importance. However, traditional arc-welding has many issues. In particular, the formation of the detrimental Nb-rich Laves phase in the heat affected zone can promote crack initiation and propagation, which leads to poor mechanical properties. The small heat input and the rapid solidification of laser powder bed fusion (PBF) has the potential to suppress this problem. Despite the infancy of the multi-material PBF, it is of interest to investigate the relationship among the process parameter, the microstructure at the materials joining point, and the mechanical performance. In this study, we used high-speed x-ray imaging to in-situ monitor the printing of Inconel 718 tracks on a 316H SS substrate via laser powder bed fusion, followed by post-build characterization and testing with SEM, XRD and nanoindentation. We observed that a higher linear energy density resulted in a more diffused interface and a smaller compositional gradient, but as a trade-off, generated more keyhole pores and thermal cracks. Furthermore, we also showed that the built layer exhibited chemical inhomogeneity at two length scales: a tens-of-mu m-scale compositional vortex due to the melt flow, and a sub-mu m-scale Nb-rich dendritic structure due to the non-equilibrium solidification that led to the formation of the Laves phase. It was inferred that the chemical inhomogeneity may benefit the mechanical properties at the interface by providing more interlocking between the two materials and also by limiting the effect of the brittle Laves phase to potentially short range.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1776833
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1647262
Journal Information:
Additive Manufacturing, Vol. 36; ISSN 2214-8604
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English