Effect of production parameters on the properties of IN 718 superalloy by three-dimensional printing

Three-dimensional printing is a rapid prototyping process in which powdered materials are deposited in layers and selectively joined with binder from an ink-jet style print head. By this method, three-dimensional objects are created directly from their computer-aided design models. This process consists of a moving print head spreading liquid binder through nozzles on a stationary powder bed for fabrication of green parts using computer-aided design data in a layer-wise manner. This process provides the possibility of direct manufacturing of high performance components. In this study production of full-density three-dimensional superalloy parts by three-dimensional printing with a single sintering step was aimed. For this purpose, Inconel 718 superalloy powders were used. Various shaped parts were produced with 100–200 μm layer thicknesses and then sintered at 1260–1300 °C temperatures. Densities of these samples were measured and microstructural evaluations were made.