Abstract:
The invention relates to a method for producing a three-dimensional article or at least a part of such an article made of a gamma prime (γ′) precipitation hardened nickel base superalloy with a high volume fraction (>25%) of gamma-prima phase which is a difficult to weld superalloy, or made of a cobalt base superalloy, or of a non-castable or difficult to machine metal material by means of selective laser melting (SLM), in which the article is produced by melting of layerwise deposited metal powder with a laser beam characterized in that the SLM processing parameters are selectively adjusted to locally tailor the microstructure and/or porosity of the produced article or a part of the article and therefore to optimize desired properties of the finalized article/part of the article.
Abstract:
The invention relates to a method for additively manufacturing an article made of a difficult-to-weld highly-precipitation-strengthened Ni-base super alloy that comprises Al and Ti in the sum of more than 5 wt.-% or a difficult-to weld carbide/solution-strengthened cobalt (Co)-base super alloy, whereby a metal particle mixture of at least a first phase and a second phase is provided as a starting material, said first phase of the mixture being a base material and said second phase of the mixture being a material which is a derivative of the first material and has relative to said material of said first phase an improved weldability, and whereby the metal particle mixture is processed by means of an additive manufacturing process which is one of selective laser melting (SLM), selective laser sintering (SLS), electron beam melting (EBM), laser metal forming (LMF), laser engineered net shape (LENS), or direct metal deposition (DMD).