Abstract
Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) offers significant potentialities for the design of complex part geometries. Due to the specific combination of properties, tungsten heavy alloys are used for special applications such as X-ray and γ-radiation shielding, balancing weights, collimators and molds. For optimum performance, complex geometries can be required in those applications. L-PBF of tungsten heavy alloys such as W-Ni-Fe is challenging due to the high thermal conductivity, high viscosity of the liquid phase, the high melting point and sensitivity to thermal cracking. The effect of L-PBF processing parameters on the material microstructure is therefore studied for different W-Ni-Fe powders, applying substrate preheating temperatures up to 800 °C. Furthermore, the impact of thermal post-treatment is investigated, leading to a microstructure close to conventionally sintered material. Crack-free samples can be generated from all powders, but residual and heterogeneously distributed pores are still detected. It is shown that evaporation of NiFe binder matrix during L-PBF is significantly lower for pre-alloyed powders than for mixed powders.
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