Grain boundary and microstructure engineering of Inconel 690 cladding on stainless-steel 316L using electron-beam powder bed fusion additive manufacturing

This research explores the prospect of fabricating a face-centered cubic(fcc) Ni-base alloy cladding(Inconel 690) on an fcc Fe-base alloy(316 L stainless-steel) having improved mechanical properties and reduced sensitivity to corrosion through grain boundary and microstructure engineering concepts enabled by additive manufacturing(AM) utilizing electron-beam powder bed fusion(EPBF). The unique solidification and associated constitutional supercooling phenomena characteristic of EPBF promotes[100] textured and extended columnar grains having lower energy grain boundaries as opposed to random, high-angle grain boundaries, but no coherent {111} twin boundaries characteristic of conventional thermo-mechanically processed fcc metals and alloys, including Inconel 690 and 316 L stainless-steel.In addition to [100] textured grains, columnar grains were produced by EPBF fabrication of Inconel 690 claddings on 316 L stainless-steel substrates. Also, irregular 2–3 μm diameter, low energy subgrains were formed along with dislocation densities varying from 108 to 109 cm^2, and a homogeneous distribution of Cr_(23)C_6 precipitates. Precipitates were formed within the grains(with ~3 μm interparticle spacing),but not in the subgrain or columnar grain boundaries. These inclusive, hierarchical microstructures produced a tensile yield strength of 0.527 GPa, elongation of 21%, and Vickers microindentation hardness of 2.33 GPa for the Inconel 690 cladding in contrast to a tensile yield strength of 0.327 GPa, elongation of 53%, and Vickers microindentation hardness of 1.78 GPa, respectively for the wrought 316 L stainlesssteel substrate. Aging of both the Inconel 690 cladding and the 316 L stainless-steel substrate at 685?C for50 h precipitated Cr_(23)C_6 carbides in the Inconel 690 columnar grain boundaries, but not in the low-angle(and low energy) subgrain boundaries. In contrast, Cr_(23)C_6 carbides precipitated in the 316 L stainless-steel grain boundaries, but not in the low energy coherent {111} twin boundaries. Consequently, the Inconel690 subgrain boundaries essentially serve as surrogates for coherent twin boundaries with regard to avoiding carbide precipitation and corrosion sensitization.

Microstructures and Hardness Properties for β-Phase Ti-24Nb-4Zr-7.9Sn Alloy Fabricated by Electron Beam Melting

Atomized, pre-alloyed Ti-24Nb-4Zr-7.9Sn （wt%） powder was used to fabricate solid, prototype components by electron beam melting （EBM）. Vickers microindentation hardness values were observed to average 2 GPa for the precursor powder and 2.5 GPa for the solid, EBM-fabricated products. The powder and solid product microstructures were examined by optical and electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction analyses showed that they had bcc β-phase microstructure. However, it was found by transmission electron microscopy that the EBM-fabricated product had plate morphology with space -100-200 nm. Although the corresponding selected area diffraction patterns can be indexed by β-phase plus α＂-martensite with orthorhombic crystal structure, the dark-field analyses failed to observe the α＂-martensite. Such phenomenon was also found in deformed gum metals and explained by stress-induced diffusion scattering due to phonon softening.

In situ selective laser gas nitriding for composite TiN/Ti-6Al-4V fabrication via laser powder bed fusion

Laser-assisted gas nitriding of selective Ti-6Al-4V surfaces has been achieved during laser powder bed fusion fabrication by exchanging the argon build gas environment with nitrogen.Systematic variation of processing parameters allowed microdendritic Ti N surface coatings to be formed having thicknesses ranging from a few tens of microns to several hundred microns,with TiN dendrite microstructure volume fractions ranging from 0.6 to 0.75;and corresponding Vickers microindentation hardness values ranging from^7.5 GPa–9.5 GPa.Embedded TiN hard layers ranging from 50μm to 150μm thick were also fabricated in the laser-beam additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V alloy producing prototype,hybrid,planar composites having alternating,ductile Ti-6Al-4V layers with a hardness of^4.5 GPa and a stiff,TiN layer with a hardness of^8.5 GPa.The results demonstrate prospects for fabricating novel,additively manufactured components having selective,hard,wear and corrosion resistant coatings along with periodic,planar or complex metal matrix composite regimes exhibiting superior toughness and related mechanical properties.