Crystallographic texture engineering through novel melt strategies via electron beam melting: Inconel 718

Preliminary research has demonstrated the ability to utilise novel scan strategies in the electron beam melting (EBM) process to establish control of crystallographic texture within Inconel 718 deposits. Conventional EBM scan strategies and process parameters yield coarse columnar grains aligned parallel to the build direction. Through varying process parameters such as beam power, beam velocity, beam focus and scan strategy, the behaviour of the electron beam can be manipulated from a line source to a point source. The net effect of these variations is that the resulting crystallographic texture is controlled in a manner to produce either epitaxial deposits or fully equiaxed deposits. This research demonstrates the ability to change the crystallographic texture on the macroscale indicating that EBM technology can be used to create complex geometric components with both site-specific microstructures and material properties.