Comparison of mechanical properties and structure of Haynes 282 consolidated via two different powder metallurgy methods: laser powder bed fusion and hot pressing

The development of powder metallurgy methods in recent years has caused traditional casting methods to be replaced in many industrial applications. Using such methods, it is possible to obtain parts having the required geometry after a process that saves both manufacturing costs and time. However, there are many material issues that decrease the functionality of these methods, including mechanical properties anisotropy and greater susceptibility to cracking due to chemical segregation. The main aim of the current article is to analyze these issues in depth for two powder metallurgy manufacturing processes: laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) and hot-pressing (HP) methods—selected for the experiment because they are in widespread use. Microstructure and mechanical tests were performed in the main manufacturing directions, X and Z. The results show that in both powder metallurgy methods, anisotropy was an issue, although it seems that the problem was more significant for the samples produced via LPBF SLM technique, which displayed only half the elongation in the building direction (18%) compared with the perpendicular direction (almost 38%). However, it should be noted that the fracture toughness of LPBF shows high values in the main directions, higher even than those of the HP and wrought samples. Additionally, the highest level of homogeneity even in comparison with wrought sample, was observed for the HP sintered samples with equiaxed grains with visible twin boundaries. The tensile properties, mainly strength and elongation, were the highest for HP material. Overall, from a practical standpoint, the results showed that HP sintering is the best method in terms of homogeneity based on microstructural and mechanical properties.