Influence of powder characteristics and additive manufacturing process parameters on the microstructure and mechanical behaviour of Inconel 625 fabricated by Selective Laser Melting

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) as an additive manufacturing process can fabricate near to net shape metallic components directly from Computer aided design models, which may be difficult to fabricate using conventional manufacturing methods. In this work, the powdered metals used as the raw material feedstock in the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process were studied. SLM manufacturing processibility of nickel based super alloy, powders related to the particle Size Distribution (PSD), flow ability, mechanical properties and microstructures was investigated. Different powder characterisation methods were also investigated to establish which might be most useful for SLM application. Three different Inconel 625 (IN625) powder feedstock materials have been accounted for this study. Firstly, three different IN625 powders were fully characterised for chemical composition, particle size distribution and flow ability using different types of characterisation techniques. It has been found that the presence of any significant proportion of powder particles smaller than 10-μm diameter, leads to severe agglomeration and make SLM processing difficult. Secondly, coupons were manufactured using SLM from each powder with different process parameter, which were analysed for porosity and mechanical behaviour. Next, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) are employed to investigate the microstructures. Finally, data analysis was employed on the data collected by metal powders characterization, SLM manufacturing, SEM/EBSD study and mechanical properties of the IN625. It has been observed that the powder characteristics, as well as SLM process parameters influences on the quality of the IN625 fabricated.