Oxide films in laser additive manufactured Inconel 718

A continuous-wave 5 kW fiber laser welding system was used in conduction mode to deposit Inconel® alloy 718 (IN718) by employing filler wire on as-serviced IN718 parent material (PM) substrates. The direct laser deposited (DLD) coupons and as-serviced IN718 PM were then evaluated through tensile testing. To understand the failure mechanisms, the tensile fracture surfaces of the as-serviced IN718 PM, DLD and DLD-PM samples were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. The fracture surfaces revealed the presence of both Al₂O₃ and Cr₂O₃ films, although the latter was reasoned to be the main oxide in IN718. Both the experimental observations and thermodynamic analysis indicated that oxidation of some alloying elements in IN718 cannot be completely avoided during manufacturing, whether in the liquid state under vacuum (for casting, the electron beam melting, welding and/or deposition) or with inert gas protection (for welding or laser deposition). The exposed surface of the oxide film on the fracture surface has poor wetting with the metal and thus can constitute a lack of bonding or a crack with either the metal and/or another non-wetted side of the oxide film. On the other hand, the wetted face of the oxide film has good atom-to-atom contact with the metal and may nucleate some intermetallic compounds, such as Laves, Ni₃Nb-δ, Nb-rich MC and γ′ compounds. The potential of their nucleation on Cr₂O₃ was assessed using planar disregistry. Coherent planes were found between these intermetallics and Cr₂O₃.