Abstract
This study investigates the metallurgical and mechanical properties of a nickel-based superalloy produced through wire + arc additive manufacturing (WAAM). It is a novel and fast fabrication technique based on layer-by-layer construction for rapid product development. A thin-wall component of Inconel 625 was successfully manufactured using a cold metal transfer (CMT)-based WAAM technique with an ErNiCrMo-3 wire after identifying suitable process parameters based on trial runs. The microstructure varies based on the travel and build directions, resulting in columnar, cellular, and equiaxed dendrites found in bottom, middle, and top regions. These dendritic structures evolve throughout the deposition process, predominantly influenced by temperature circumstances. The results of SEM/EDS analysis indicated that Nb and Mo segregation was lower in the interdendritic areas compared to the dendritic core areas of the thin-wall part. The XRD results discovered that the main crystal structure found in the WAAMed samples was a γ-FCC (face-centered cubic). Additionally, through EBSD analysis, the average grain size was identified as 86.45 µm in the travel direction and 89.15 µm in the build direction. The grain properties of the material were influenced by the reheating phenomenon and the circumstances of solidification that occurred throughout the layer-by-layer additive manufacturing process. The larger proportion of higher angle grain boundaries improves the mechanical properties. The average hardness in the travel direction was higher in the top (312 HV), middle (297 HV), and bottom (303 HV) sections than in the build direction (305 HV), (290 HV) and (294 HV), respectively. The mechanical properties, specifically tensile strength, exhibit anisotropy that varies depending on the direction of travel and build. The residual stress analysis shows that the as-built specimen is mainly affected by tensile stress in the travel and build directions.
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The authors would like to acknowledge School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, for providing research facilities to the successful completion of work.
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Mahendiran, S., Ramanujam, R. Investigation of Surface Residual Stress, Mechanical Properties, and Metallurgical Characterization of Inconel 625 Multilayer Thin-Wall Component Using Cold Metal Transfer Technique. J. of Materi Eng and Perform (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-023-09119-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-023-09119-2