Heat Treatment Design for IN718 by Laser Metal Deposition with High Deposition Rates: Modeling, Simulation, and Experiments.

Laser metal deposited processed Ni-based superalloy IN718 is characterized by elemental micro-segregation, anisotropy, and Laves phases due to the rapid solidification and therefore needs homogenization heat treatment to achieve comparable properties of wrought alloys. In this article, we report a simulation-based methodology to design heat treatment IN718 in a laser metal deposition (LMD) process by using Thermo-calc. Initially, the finite element modeling simulates the laser melt pool to compute the solidification rate (G) and temperature gradient (R). Then, the primary dendrite arm spacing (PDAS) is computed through Kurz-Fisher and Trivedi modeling integrated with finite element method (FEM) solver. Later, a DICTRA homogenization model based on the PDAS input values computes the homogenization heat treatment time and temperature. The simulated time scales are verified for two different experiments with contrast laser parameters and are found to be in good agreement confirmed with the results from scanning electron microscopy. Finally, a methodology for integrating the process parameter with the heat treatment design is developed, and a heat treatment map for IN718 is generated that can be integrated with an FEM solver for the first time in the LMD process.

Laser Directed Energy Deposition of an AlMgScZr-Alloy in High-Speed Process Regimes.

Aluminum-magnesium-scandium-zirconium (AlMgScZr) alloys need to be rapidly cooled from the liquid state to obtain a high degree of solute supersaturation that helps to exploit the precipitation hardening potential of the material. While AlMgScZr alloys have been successfully used in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) processes, there has been little research in the field of laser directed energy deposition (DED) of the material. The limited previous studies have shown that the performance of AlMgScZr parts fabricated with DED only reached about 60% of that of the parts fabricated with LPBF. In view of breaking through the limitation associated with the process conditions of conventional DED, this work demonstrates the DED of AlMgScZr alloys in high-speed process regimes and elucidates the mechanism of enhancing the hardness and tensile strength of AlMgScZr alloys by increasing the cooling rate by one to two orders of magnitudes, as well as reducing the track overlapping and the porosity of the specimens during the process. A maximum average hardness of nearly 150 HV0.1 and a max. tensile strength of 407 MPa are obtained by using an energy per unit length of 5400 J/m and a powder feed rate per unit length of 0.25 g/m.

Carbon Nanotubes Enabled Laser 3D Printing of High-Performance Titanium with Highly Concentrated Reinforcement.

Zero- to two-dimensional nanomaterials have been incorporated into metal-matrices to improve the strength of metals, but challengingly, high-volume-fraction nanomaterials are difficult to disperse uniformly in metal matrices, severely degrading the ductility of conventionally processed metals. Here, a considerably dense uniform dispersion of in situ formed nanoscale lamellar TiC reinforcement (16.1 wt %) in Ti matrix is achieved through laser-tailored 3D printing and complete reaction of Ti powder with a small amount (1.0 wt %) of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). An enhanced tensile strength of 912 MPa and an outstanding fracture elongation of 16% are simultaneously achieved for laser-printed components, showing a maximum 350% improvement in "product of strength and elongation" compared with conventional Ti. In situ nanoscale TiC reinforcement favors the formation of ultrafine equiaxed Ti grains and metallurgically coherent interface with minimal lattice misfit between TiC lamellae and Ti matrix. Our approach hopefully provides a feasible way to broaden structural applications of CNTs in load-bearing Ti-based engineering components via laser-tailored reorganization with Ti.