Investigation of IR pyrometer-captured thermal signatures and their role on microstructural evolution and properties of Inconel 625 tracks in DED-based additive manufacturing

In Laser Directed Energy Deposition (DED-L) process, based on the particular thermal cycle followed during the laser processing, a wide range of microstructural and dimensional outcomes are envisaged in the end product on account of the interaction of the material or the alloy with the laser. Various parameters can influence the thermal cycle and a direct correlation between the thermal characteristics with the mechanical/metallurgical properties would be helpful to control the process in a better way. Keeping in view of this, the present study is aimed at analyzing thermal signals received from infrared pyrometer and understanding the correlation between thermal signatures, phase prediction data using CALPHAD simulation, microstructure and deposition characteristics. The thermal signatures captured from infrared pyrometer revealed close interrelationship between the input process parameters and the molten pool characteristics, which have a huge influence on the solidification rate vis-à-vis microstructural properties. Total life of melt-pool showed an increase in magnitude from 137 ms to 264 ms with decrease in cooling rates from 3000 °C/s to 1750 °C/s. The grain size increased from 3.48 μm to 7.74 μm with increase in solidification shelf life from 32 ms to 110 ms. The higher solidification shelf life and lower cooling rates also resulted in the larger and the more prominent metal carbide precipitate and intermetallic formations as evident from XRD analysis. Microhardness of the deposits also increased with decrease in solidification shelf life and increase in cooling rates of molten pool. The dimensions of laser deposited tracks were also found to increase with increment in total molten pool lifetime both at increasing laser power and decreasing laser scan peed conditions.