Numerical analysis of 3D printed Inconel 718 superalloy for mechanical properties and solid particle erosion studies

Abstract

The evolution of the rapid prototyping with the emergence of the Industry 4.0 brings the new challenges in the field of additive manufacturing. The additive manufacturing eliminates the various process incorporated in conventional manufacturing such as casting, machining and welding. Therefore, the additive manufacturing reduces the manufacturing cost, labours and produce complex shapes easily. The additive manufactured Inconel 718 super alloy is widely used in various fields such as medical application, automobile and air crafts for its mechanical strength and corrosion resistance. The mechanical study of this material may cause most expansive, time consuming process and material wastage. The study is mainly focused to minimized expenditure and material wastage due to conventional testing process. In this paper, the additive manufactured Inconel 718 super alloy is evaluated through CAE software. For investigation, the direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) processed material and their corresponding mechanical properties are considered as a base data. All the models are meshed fine elements in hex shape to improve the accuracy of testing. Boundary condition applied as per ASTM standard for tensile (ASTM E8), erosion (ASTM G76) and impact (ASTM E23). Experimentation such as axial loading, impact loading and solid particle erosion studies are performed. Subsequently, the simulated results are compared with conventionally tested material for data interpretations. The analytical result for DMLS alloy has tensile strength is 1125 MPa and impact strength of 23.30 J; and the commercial alloy has tensile strength of 1252 MPa and impact strength 25.33 J respectively. As a research finding, it has been confirmed that the result achieved through simulated modelling for DMLS processed Inconel718 is very close and with negotiable difference for the conventional Inconel 718 material.