Pore evolution mechanisms during directed energy deposition additive manufacturing.

Porosity in directed energy deposition (DED) deteriorates mechanical performances of components, limiting safety-critical applications. However, how pores arise and evolve in DED remains unclear. Here, we reveal pore evolution mechanisms during DED using in situ X-ray imaging and multi-physics modelling. We quantify five mechanisms contributing to pore formation, migration, pushing, growth, removal and entrapment: (i) bubbles from gas atomised powder enter the melt pool, and then migrate circularly or laterally; (ii) small bubbles can escape from the pool surface, or coalesce into larger bubbles, or be entrapped by solidification fronts; (iii) larger coalesced bubbles can remain in the pool for long periods, pushed by the solid/liquid interface; (iv) Marangoni surface shear flow overcomes buoyancy, keeping larger bubbles from popping out; and (v) once large bubbles reach critical sizes they escape from the pool surface or are trapped in DED tracks. These mechanisms can guide the development of pore minimisation strategies.

Grain Refinement of a Powder Nickel-Base Superalloy Using Hot Deformation and Slow-Cooling.

A pre-hot-deformation process was applied for a polycrystalline nickel-base superalloy to active deformation twins and dislocations, and subsequent slow cooling treatment was used to achieve grain refinement and microstructure homogenization. The microstructural evolution of the alloy was investigated, and the corresponding underlying mechanism was discussed. It was found that twinning mainly occurred in large grains during pre-hot-deformation owing to the stress concentration surrounding the large grains. High density dislocations were found in large grains, and the dislocation density increased approaching the grain boundary. The average grain size was refined from 30 µm to 13 µm after slow cooling with a standard deviation of grain size decreasing from 10.8 to 2.8, indicating a homogeneous microstructure. The grain refinement and microstructure homogenization during cooling process could be achieved via (i) static recrystallization (SRX), (ii) interaction of twin tips and γ' precipitates, and (iii) grain coarsening hindered by γ' precipitates in grain boundaries.