Dendritic microstructure and hot cracking of laser additive manufactured Inconel 718 under improved base cooling

Abstract The base cooling effect was improved by imposing the continuous water flow on the back of the substrate during the laser additive manufacturing of Inconel 718 (IN718). The dendritic microstructure, crystal orientation and hot cracking behavior were studied by using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) techniques. The results showed that the crystal orientation was increased by increasing the base cooling effect during the deposition. Also, highly ordered columnar dendrites were established, and mono-crystalline texture was constructed in the final clad. It was fund that the effect of solidification cracking on the properties of final clad was negligible since it was only generated at the top region of the deposit, while liquation cracking was produced and remained in the heat affected zone (HAZ) and needed to be carefully controlled. The susceptibility to the liquation cracking showed a high dependence on the grain boundary misorientation, which was considered to be attributed to the stability of interdendritic liquation films, as well as the magnitude of local stress concentration in the last stage of solidification.