Effect of substrate cooling on the epitaxial growth of Ni-based single-crystal superalloy fabricated by direct energy deposition

The columnar-to-equiaxed transition(CET)or the formation of stray grains in the laser melting deposition is the least desirable for the repair of single-crystal blades.In this work,the forced water-cooling was conducted on a single-crystal Rene N5 substrate during the direct energy deposition(DED).The single track remelting,one-layer,two-layer,and eight-layer depositions were investigated to explore the grain growth mechanism.The solidification conditions of the DED process,including temperature field,temperature gradient,and solidification speed,were numerically analyzed by a finite element model.The single-track remelting results showed that the fraction of columnar crystal regions increases from55.81%in the air-cooled sample to 77.14%in the water-cooled one.The single-track deposits of one-and two-layer have the same trend,where the proportion of columnar crystal height was higher under the forced water-cooled condition.The electron backscattered diffraction(EBSD)grain-structure maps of an eight-layer deposit show that the epitaxial growth height increases from 1 mm in the air-cooling sample to 1.5 mm in the water-cooling one.The numerical results showed that the tempe rature gradient in[0011 direction was significantly increased by using forced water-cooling.In conclusion,the in-situ substrate cooling can become a potential method to promote epitaxial growth during DED via the influence on CET occurrence.

Cold spray additive manufacturing of Invar 36 alloy:microstructure,thermal expansion and mechanical properties

In this work,the Invar 36 alloys were manufactured using cold spray(CS)additive manufacturing technique.The systematic investigations were made on the microstructural evolution,thermal expansion and mechanical properties under as-sprayed(AS)and heat-treated(HT)conditions.XRD(X-ray diffraction)and ICP-AES(inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy)analyses show that no phase transformation,oxidation,nor element content change have occurred.The X-ray computed tomography(XCT)exhibited a near fully dense structure with a porosity of 0.025%in the helium-produced sample under as-sprayed condition,whereas the nitrogen-produced samples produced at 5 MPa and 800℃show more irregular pore defects.He-AS sample shows a more prominent grain refinement than that of nitrogen samples due to the more extensive plastic deformation.The post heat-treatment exhibited a promoted grain growth,inter-particle diffusion,as well as the formation of annealing twins.Between25℃and 200℃,the nitrogen samples possessed lower CTE(coefficient of thermal expansion)values(1.53×10^(-6)/℃)compared with those produced by casting and laser additive manufacturing.The He-AS samples exhibited a noticeable negative CTE value between 25℃and 200℃,which may due to the significant compressive residual stress(-272 MPa)compensating its displacement with temperature increase during CTE test.The N2-HT and He-HT Invar 36 samples present a notable balance between strength and ductility.In conclusion,the CS technique can be considered as a potential method to produce the Invar36 component with high thermal and mechanical performance.

Selective Laser Melting of Carbon-Free Mar-M509 Co-Based Superalloy:Microstructure,Micro-Cracks,and Mechanical Anisotropy

In this work,the microstructural evolution,micro-crack formation,and mechanical anisotropy of the selective laser melted(SLM)carbon-free Mar-M509 Co-based superalloy were systematically studied under different linear energy densities(LED).Observation shows that the SLM Mar-M509 superalloy possesses a fully dense structure,whereas some microcracks exist along the building direction.The electron backscatter diffraction results reveal that dominant columnar grains tend to elongate along the building direction parallel to the XZ plane.Meanwhile,both a<001>near fiber texture and a{100}<001>near sheet texture are observed in different specimens.For the specimen with fiber texture,a high misorientation angle exists among different columnar grains,which aggravated the generation of micro-cracks under thermal stress.Higher LED results in higher micro-crack density in the SLM specimen due to higher thermal stress.Mar-M509 specimen fabricated under lower LED exhibits higher tensile strength due to more significant grain refinement.More prominent anisotropy of tensile performance was found in the high LED specimen,which can be attributed to the higher density of micro-cracks and crystallographic texture.Furthermore,the SLM Mar-M509 superalloy exhibits better mechanical properties than the traditional cast technique.In summary,this work can contribute to the development and the future application of SLM-fabricated Co-based superalloy.