Materials Letters 164 (2016) 428–431

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Materials Letters
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matlet

Microstructure and mechanical properties of selective laser melted

Inconel 718 compared to forging and casting
Tanja Trosch, Johannes Strößner, Rainer Völkl, Uwe Glatzel n
University Bayreuth, Metals and Alloys, Ludwig-Thoma-Straße 36b, D-95447 Bayreuth, Germany

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The additive manufacturing technique selective laser melting (SLM) is compared to forging and casting
Received 4 September 2015 regarding differences in microstructure and mechanical properties of Inconel 718, a commonly and
Received in revised form widely used nickel-based superalloy. Semi-finished parts were produced by different manufacturing
26 October 2015
techniques and tensile test samples were prepared. Tensile tests were performed at room and elevated
Accepted 27 October 2015
Available online 11 November 2015
temperatures (450 °C and 650 °C). Microstructural investigations were done by optical and scanning
electron microscopy (SEM). The results show the capability of the SLM-process to produce parts with
Keywords: mechanical properties better than forged and cast material at room temperature and equal properties to
Inconel 718 forged material at elevated temperatures with a high proportion of intragranular δ-phase in the SLM-
Selective laser melting
processed material.
Forging
& 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Casting
Microstructural investigations
Mechanical characterization

1. Introduction
Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing
technique, also known as rapid prototyping, laser forming or laser
manufacturing. SLM is ideally suited for producing metal parts
with complex geometries out of a powder bed as demonstrated in
Fig. 1(a) [1–3]. It offers many possibilities to overcome geometric
restrictions, which exist for conventional manufacturing methods
such as forging and casting. SLM provides the possibility to pro-
duce for example integrated cooling systems and conduits in
casings and parts [4,5].
Inconel 718 is a widely known and extensively tested nickel-
based superalloy used for turbine disks, blades or shafts [6–9]. Due
to the low content of aluminum and titanium this alloy is known
for its good weldability. Therefore the alloy is ideally suited for the
SLM process.
The appropriate selection of a certain manufacturing technique
for a specific part depends on geometrical complexity, production
quantity and cost, the material and the mechanical strength nee-
ded. According to these issues the different manufacturing tech-
niques offer certain disadvantages and advantages. Whereas the
production quantity and the dimension of the component are the
limiting factors of the SLM process, there is a wide freedom in
n
Corresponding author. Tel: þ 49 921 55 5555; Fax: þ49 921 55 5561.
E-mail address: uwe.glatzel@uni-bayreuth.de (U. Glatzel).
design for complex geometries. The lost wax investment casting is
characterized by relatively complex geometries, high production
quantity since the process is easy to automate and the size of the
components is the least restricted. By forging only simple com-
ponent geometries but large dimensions and high production
quantities are possible. Therefore turbine blades are primarily
precision cast by reason of complex geometry and microstructure
constraints (single crystalline, polycrystalline, directionally solidi-
fied), whereas forging is more suitable for components like turbine
disks and casings subjected to dynamic loads, wherein fatigue
properties are of importance.
To determine to what extent the new processing technology
SLM can compete with conventional methods a mechanical char-
acterization is presented in this work. The results were com-
plemented by microstructural investigations, using optical me-
tallography (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and en-
ergy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX).
2. Materials and methods
The nickel-based superalloy Inconel 718 was selected to com-
pare the three manufacturing techniques selective laser melting,
forging and casting. The compositional range (wt%) of Inconel 718
is: Ni (50–55),Fe (22.4–11.1), Cr (17–21), Nb (4.8–5.5), Mo (2.8–
3.3), Ti (0.7–1.2), Al (0.2–0.8), Co (1.0), Si (0.4), Mn (0.4), Cu (0.3).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2015.10.136
0167-577X/& 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 T. Trosch et al. / Materials Letters 164 (2016) 428–431
Fig. 1. (a) SLM process: formation of a three-dimensional component by cohesive bonding of individual powder layers with building direction from bottom to top and scan direction
parallel to the building platform, (b) cylindrical bars in the different orientations as they were built up on the platform shown in (a), and (c) specimen geometry for tensile tests.
Tensile tests at room temperature, 450 °C and 650 °C at a strain
rate of 3  10  3 s  1 were carried out in air to obtain the me-
chanical properties like ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elon-
gation to failure (εf).
2.1. SLM-material
The powdered Inconel 718 was shaped into cylindrical bars by
selective laser melting using processing parameters, scan strategy
and building rate, optimized over several years [10]. As depicted in
Fig. 1(b) the cylindrical bars from which the samples were cut
(13 mm in diameter and 71 mm in length) were built up in three
different orientations (horizontal, vertical and 45°) to reflect the
direction dependency of the mechanical properties. The samples
were cut off the building platform and solution heat treated at
980 °C for 1 h. Aging was performed at 718 °C for 8 h followed by
621 °C for 8 h.
2.2. Forged material
The forged material was delivered by Outokumpu VDM GmbH.
A disc with a diameter of 300 mm and a thickness of 20 mm was
cut out of a forged billet and further sliced into manageable seg-
ments for further processing. All parts obtained the same heat
treatment as the selective laser melted material.
2.3. Cast material
One section of the forged disc was remelted in a vacuum in-
duction melting furnace (VIM) and cast into a ceramic shell mold
in the form of thin plates with dimensions of 4.5  60  40 mm3.
After casting, the material was homogenized at 1200 °C for 48 h
and subsequently heat treated with the same heat treatment as
forged and SLM samples. After the homogenization step the grain
size increased from 2 to 4 mm.
2.4. Preparation of specimens and equipment for tensile testing
Tensile samples were cut out by wire electrical discharge ma-
chining (EDM). The EDM recast layer was removed by vibration
grinding. The specimen geometry developed for tensile-testing of
small specimen (gauge section 0.5  3.0  5.0 mm3) is shown in
Fig. 1(c). The conical shape assures failure in the gauge section
which is defined by ridges on the specimen contour. The equip-
ment used for tensile testing is based on the test setup described
in [11,12]. Miniature specimens are clamped in form-fitting grips
which are connected to a transformer in short circuit for Ohmic
heating. Temperature is controlled with a thermocouple and a
429
pyrometer. Strain is measured with a video extensometer. Tele-
centric optics of both the CCD camera and the blue back light il-
lumination ensure continuous operation of the video ex-
tensometer from room temperature up to 1500 °C.
2.5. Microstructural investigations
The microstructures of the various manufacturing variants
were examined after heat treatment by optical and scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) (1540 EsB Cross Beam, Zeiss, Germany)
equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy detector
(Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) and operating at 20 kV using sec-
ondary electron signal for imaging (Fig. 3). Specimens for micro-
structure analysis were ground and polished. Electrolytic etching
was carried out in a solution of 50 ml lactic acid, 3 g oxalic acid
and 150 ml hydrochloric acid for 10–20 s at a voltage of 2 V (DC).
Grain size distribution and porosity measurements were evaluated
based on optical microscopic images with the analysis software
Stream Motion (Olympus).
3. Results and discussion
In Fig. 2 the results of the tensile tests ultimate tensile strength
(UTS), yield strength (Rp0.2) and elongation to failure (εf) are
shown with the exact values listed in Table 1.
It can be clearly seen that at room temperature SLM samples
show a higher UTS, an equivalent Rp0.2 and lower εf in comparison
to forged samples. Focusing on SLM built samples (UTS and Rp0.2
enlarged in Fig. 2) the horizontal built SLM specimens are char-
acterized by a higher UTS and lower εf at room temperature than
vertical built samples. Whereby the higher ductility for vertical
build SLM samples is due to the typical columnar grain growth
with orientation parallel to the direction of the load [13–15].
Samples manufactured at 45° angle achieve the highest tensile
strengths and show lowest ductility which is attributed to the
combined effect of columnar grain growth and the layered SLM
structure. Anisotropic properties depending on the building or-
ientation are typical for additive manufacturing techniques and
are related to the layered microstructure caused by the SLM pro-
cess. The cast samples have a tensile strength of 950 MPa at room
temperature and are thus about 30% below the forged samples.
Slow cooling in the ceramic shell mold together with the sub-
sequent heat treatment resulted in a large grain size of the cast
samples which is shown in Fig. 3.
Due to large grain size and higher porosity the mechanical
properties at room temperature are reduced as compared to cast
Inconel 718 with literature data of UTS of 970–1050 MPa [8,16].
430 T. Trosch et al. / Materials Letters 164 (2016) 428–431

Fig. 2. Ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and elongation to failure at room temperature, 450 °C and 650 °C.

Since the grain size is in the range of the specimen gauge section
of 5 mm, it is possible that a single grain runs transversely through
the test section, so that only the strength of this grain is measured.
Microstructural investigations confirm that most fracture surfaces
are accompanied by δ-phase particles or pores. The pore mea-
surements reveal 0.2% porosity for the cast material, noting that
the HIP treatment is missing, wherein the SLM material reaches
the same low porosity of 0.02% as forged Inconel 718. Regarding
the mechanical properties at elevated temperatures, Fig. 2 shows
that the hot tensile tests at 450 °C result in a reduction of the UTS
by 220 MPa compared to SLM material and 200 MPa compared to
forged material, whereas the cast samples decrease by 184 MPa. At
650 °C the UTS of the SLM samples falls within the range of the
forged samples. Values of Rp0.2 of SLM and forged samples are
consistent to 450 °C. Thereafter the yield strength of SLM samples
drops more rapidly than that of forged samples. With respect to
the elongation to failure, the SLM samples tend to lose their
ductility at higher temperatures (4450 °C) to a larger degree than
the forged samples. This is partly due to the δ-phase distribution
within the microstructure. In Fig. 3 it can be seen that δ-phase
particles are deposited at the grain boundaries in forged and cast
samples after heat treatment in the same way as it was observed
by Janaki Ram et al. [17]. However in the SLM samples the δ-phase
is not only distributed at grain boundaries but also inside the
grains as can be seen in the SEM images in Fig. 3. This is caused by
micro segregations of Nb due to the rapid cooling of the punctually

Fig. 3. Grain size distribution of SLM (measurements parallel (║) and perpendicular (┴) to the building direction), forged and cast microstructure with corresponding SEM
pictures.
 T. Trosch et al. / Materials Letters 164 (2016) 428–431 431

Table 1 specimens at room temperature and 450 °C. By continuous opti-

Mechanical properties of Inconel 718 at room temperature, 450 °C and 650 °C. mization of the microstructure with respect to δ-phase distribu-
tion and anisotropy, the mechanical properties (e.g. UTS, Rp0.2, εf)
UTSa (MPa) Horizontal Vertical 45° SLM Forged Cast
Rp0.2b (MPa) (average) can be further improved at temperatures above 450 °C.
εfc (%)

Room temperature 1440 1400 1450 1430 1380 950 Acknowledgments

1186 1180 1190 1185 1192 940
18.5 20.4 16.9 18.6 19.1 23.1
The authors would like to thank Outokumpu VDM GmbH Al-
tena, Germany for the generous material support.
450 °C 1216 1160 1255 1210 1177 766
1033 1026 1080 1046 1055 750
12.4 15.9 12.8 13.7 17.0 10.9
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