Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing of Ni-Based Superalloys

Abstract

Emerging additive manufacturing technologies have been gaining interest from different industries and widened their fields of application among aerospace and defense. The introduction of powder bed fusion processes was one of the significant developments in terms of direct metal part manufacturing of different materials and complex geometries, presenting good properties, and decreasing the need for tooling to allow fast product development as well as small-volume production. In this respect, nickel-based superalloys are one of the most employed material groups for aerospace and defense applications due to their mechanical strength, creep, wear, and oxidation resistance at both ambient and elevated temperatures. Nevertheless, the use of some materials has not become widespread due to several reasons such as processing difficulties, absence of design criteria or material properties. This chapter presents a comprehensive benchmark for powder bed fusion additive manufacturing of nickel-based superalloys considering applications, characteristics, and limitations.