le Microstructure changes in Additively Manufactured IN718 during stress relief heat treatment

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are being rapidly implemented for fabrication of structural components. To ensure that the resulting AM materials can repeatedly meet performance requirements, an improved understanding of the microstructural response to heat treatments is required. Since the nature of the AM process results in high thermally driven residual stresses due to rapid solidification, the first stage of heat treatment in AM is typically a stress relief cycle which has been seen to change of the texture, affecting the strength. The aim of the experiment is to understand the mechanisms driving these texture change in the Nickel based superalloys IN718 produced by the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (AM) process during the stress relief heat treatment . This experiment shall provide an insight intothe mechanisms causing these microstructural changes by simulating the heat treatment conditions and following the microstructure evolution in-situ.