Characterization of Inconel 718® superalloy fabricated by wire Arc Additive Manufacturing: effect on mechanical properties and machinability

Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing has the potential to become an appropriate technique to produce large complex-shaped metallic parts. However, a post-processing machining operation is necessary to reach the final geometry.In this work, Inconel 718 walls were manufactured in a monitored environment and their microstructure and mechanical properties were characterised. Then, slot milling operations were performed to investigate the influence of cutting speed and machining direction. The conclusions drawn from this article can be used as a guide for a correct definition of strategies and milling parameters. It was observed that at higher cutting speeds a better surface quality and lower torques are obtained. Moreover, the main novelty of this work is that is shows the influence of the anisotropy of WAAM-Inconel 718 on its machinability. Milling along the torch's travel direction offers better dimensional tolerance values with lower cutting torques, being more favourable than machining in the building direction.