Effect of post-treatments under hot isostatic pressure on microstructural characteristics of EBM-built Alloy 718

Abstract

Electron beam melting (EBM) has emerged as an important additive manufacturing technique. In this study, Alloy 718 produced by EBM was investigated in as-built and post-treated conditions for microstructural characteristics and hardness. The post-treatments investigated were hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and combined HIP + heat treatment (HIP + HT) carried out as a single cycle inside the HIP vessel. Both the post-treatments resulted in significant decrease in defects inevitably present in the as-built material. The columnar grain structure of the as-built material was found to be maintained after post-treatment, with some sporadic localized grain coarsening noted. Although HIP led to complete dissolution of δ and γ′′ phase, stable NbC and TiN (occasionally present) particles were observed in the post-treated specimens. Significant precipitation of γ′′ phase was observed after HIP + HT, which was attributed to the two-step aging heat treatment carried out during HIP + HT. The presence of γ′′ phase or otherwise was correlated to the hardness of the material. While the HIP treatment resulted in drop in hardness, HIP + HT led to ‘recovery’ of the hardness to values exceeding those exhibited by the as-built material.