Study on Effect of Laser Peening on Inconel 718 Produced by DMLS Technique 2019-28-0146

In Additive manufacturing, Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) is a rapid manufacturing technique used for manufacturing of functional component. Finely powered metal is melted by using high-energy fiber laser, by Island principle strategy that produces mechanically and thermally stable metallic component with reduced stresses, thermal gradients and at high precision. Inconel is an austenitic chromium nickel-based superalloy often used in the applications which require high strength and temperature resistant. It can retain its properties at high temperature. An attempt is made to examine the effect of laser shot peening (LSP) on DMLS Inconel 718 sample. Microstructure shows elliptical shaped structure and formation of new grain boundaries. The surface roughness of the material has been increased due to the effect of laser shock pulse and ablative nature. Macro hardness increased to 13% on the surface. Depth wise microhardness was investigated, found to be 17% increase on the sub-layer of the material due to the effect of a hardened matrix formed by precipitation hardening and grain size refinement attributed by laser shock peening. SEM analysis shows larger grains are being refined into smaller grains. The residual stress analysis result shows compressive residual stress values have increased.