Hybrid additive manufacturing and post hot forming process of nickel-based superalloys

Researcher: Miss Yaping Wang

Supervisor: Dr Jun Jiang

Summary

Nickel-based superalloy is widely used in aerospace industries, especially the jet engines. The present manufacturing process for Inconel 718, a typical nickel-based superalloy, is hot forging or powder metallurgy. My research is to explore the possibility of additively manufacturing Inconel 718 parts used as engine blades or plates. Quality of the printed parts can be guaranteed by post one-step hot forming. The advantages lie in the lower cost and high efficiency with no need for multi-step preform forging or powder preparation for HIPing. My current main work is to solve the porosity problem and study the diffusion bonding of the voids inside printed Inconel 718 samples by hot forming, simulate the voids closure and bonding process. The final aim is to find the optimal hot forming window and develop a model to predict the porosity closure condition.