Lack of fusion mitigation in directed energy deposition with laser (DED-L) additive manufacturing through laser remelting

The void level of a component produced by additive manufacturing can be used to predict the mechanical properties and in most cases it is important to develop processing methodologies able to minimize it. Conventional techniques include parameter optimization and the hot isostatic pressing (HIP). However, in the former there is a limit where improvement becomes minimal and the latter, although it is effective for internal voids, is not efficient in the case of voids located near the surface, which are considered critical. This paper describes a study in which laser remelting was used as an alternative to achieve higher densification after processing using directed energy deposition with laser (DED-L). This technique has been investigated for powder bed (PB) processes, but has not been explored for DED. Understanding the behavior of different materials considering the same processing parameters is also relevant and has not been previously addressed. An ytterbium (Yb) fiber laser with a maximum nominal power of 10 kW and wavelength of 1070 nm was used. Iron and Inconel 625 powders were deposited on an SAE 1010 steel substrate to form beads with intentional voids. The DED-L was performed with a power of 450 W, scanning speed of 600 mm/min and powder feed rate of 10 g/min. The laser radiation was applied over the produced surface at three energy levels: 31.5 kJ/m, 38.2 kJ/m and 45 kJ/m. An in-house MATLAB image processing code was developed in order to assess the void percentage. The results indicated that most of the voids originating from the DED-L process were due to lack of fusion between beads and between the deposit and the substrate. For iron, the void percentage after DED-L varied between 5.3% and 7.1%. After remelting, this value reduced to 1.7% applying 45 kJ/m. It was also noted that in all samples the voids that were initially connected to the surface coalesced because of material redistribution. However, a low repeatability was observed. For Inconel, the void percentage after DED-L varied between 4.4% and 7.1%, and reduced to 3.7% applying 31.5 kJ/m. This reduction is not as significant as that observed for iron and also the degree of dispersion was lower for iron. Hence, laser remelting is able to mitigate voids resultant from DED-L and, consequently, achieve better quality due to a lower probability of component failure. Simultaneously, productivity can be enhanced since the equipment required is the same as that used for the deposition. However, new strategies are needed to increase the process robustness and reduce the degree of dispersion.