Laser aided direct metal deposition of Inconel 625 superalloy: Microstructural evolution and thermal stability

Direct metal deposition technology is an emerging laser aided manufacturing technology based on a new additive manufacturing principle, which combines laser cladding with rapid prototyping into a solid freeform fabrication process that can be used to manufacture near net shape components from their CAD files. In the present study, direct metal deposition technology was successfully used to fabricate a series of samples of the Ni-based superalloy Inconel 625. A high power CO2 laser was used to create a molten pool on the Inconel 625 substrate into which an Inconel 625 powder stream was delivered to create a 3D object. The structure and properties of the deposits were investigated using optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and microhardness test. The microstructure has been found to be columnar dendritic in nature, which grew epitaxially from the substrate. The thermal stability of the dendritic morphology was investigated in the temperature range 800-1200 °C. These studies demonstrate that Inconel 625 is an attractive material for laser deposition as all samples produced in this study are free from relevant defects such as cracks, bonding error and porosity.