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Selective laser melting and other additive manufacturing (AM) techniques have recently attracted substantial interest of both researchers and the processing industry. The freedom of design leads to completely new possibilities for constructions and, thus, to entirely new products. In the selective laser melting (SLM) process, the components are produced layer-wise using a laser beam. SLM is a powder bed based AM process and is characterized by the complete melting of the utilized powder material. Employing SLM, complex three-dimensional parts and light weight structures can be produced directly from 3D CAD data. However, although SLM is a very promising technology, there are still challenges to solve. In the present study, a close look is taken at the porosity. Under cyclic loading, pores can act as stress raisers and lead to premature crack initiations, which reduce the fatigue strength of the material. Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) offers the possibility to reduce the porosity. HIP combines high pressure and high temperature to produce materials with superior properties. The influence of the HIP process parameters on the density and microstructure of IN718 SLM components is investigated by means of micro X-ray computed tomography and scanning electron microscopy. The results of the experiments show that the majority of pores can be densified by means of HIP. On the other hand, some pores cannot be densified. The reason for this is seen in entrapped argon gas from the SLM process.

As residual stresses can reduce the lifetime of diamond‐cobalt composite cutting tools, the composite stress state needs to be understood very well. Thus, the effect of microstructure on the residual stresses was investigated here. Stress measurements were carried out in the cobalt matrix by X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and Synchrotron‐XRD (SXRD). In addition to global stress measurements, investigations of stresses in small cobalt areas near the diamonds were performed by high brilliant synchrotron radiation using different apertures.

Despite the availability of surgical and non-surgical techniques, the repair of articular cartilage lesions remains a current clinical problem. Especially for the treatment of large osteochondral cartilage defects, the replacement of the subchondral bone plate is a crucial step for optimal cartilage repair. However, no artificial implant material can yet fully restore the properties of the subchondral bone plate. For optimal cartilage tissue repair, mechanical stability for the first two months is essential. Subsequently, a rapid degradation process of the implant material would allow optimal supply of nutrition to the regenerating tissue. To this end, we investigated whether the implantation of an open porous degradable scaffold made of a magnesium alloy (AZ91) could serve as a sufficient temporary replacement of the subchondral bone plate. The results show that this alloy degrades too rapid in vivo to allow sufficient cartilage repair above the scaffold. However, the surrounding cartilage tissue was not negatively affected by the rapid degradation process and new bone formation was observed at the rim of the degrading implant. In conclusion, magnesium scaffolds degrade in vivo but the initial high corrosion rate must be reduced to allow the formation of an appropriate cartilage tissue. Future research will therefore be directed to optimized alloys and additional coating with magnesium fluorides or calcium phosphates like hydroxyapatite.

While testing steam leading power plant components made of the nickel-base alloy A617mod at elevated temperatures (700 degC), ductility dip cracking (DDC) was observed in welding seams and their surroundings. In order to clarify the mechanism of crack formation, investigations were carried out on welded specimens made of A617mod. Interrupted tensile tests were performed on tensile specimens taken from the area of the welding seam. To simulate the conditions, the tensile tests were conducted at a temperature of 700 degC and with a low strain rate. Local strain fields at grain boundaries and inside single grains were determined at different deformation states by means of two-dimensional digital image correlation (DIC). Besides the strain fields, local hardnesses (nanoindentation), energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX), and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements were performed. Besides information concerning the grain orientation, the EBSD measurement provides information on the coincidence site lattice (CSL) at grain boundaries as well as the Schmid factor of single grains. All results of the analysis methods mentioned above were correlated and compared to each other and related to the crack formation. Among other things, correlations between strain fields and Schmid factors were determined. The investigations show that the following influences affect the crack formation: orientation of the grain boundaries to the direction of the loading, the orientation of the grains to each other (CSL), and grain boundary sliding.