Microstructure Analysis and Powder Bed Fusion of Inconel 738 Powder Materials Mixed with Nano-Sized Ceramic Powders

Powder materials strengthened by oxide dispersion are generally made by in-situ method; direct oxide dispersing in matrix powders during atomization. There is also ex-situ method; oxides dispersing by mixing with matrix powders. In this study powder mixtures (Inconel 738 matrix powder + SiO2 powder + Al2O3 powder) were mechanically manufactured by ex-situ process, a low-energy ball milling method. Then, specimens of the as-mill powders were manufactured by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) method and spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The microstructures of each prepared specimen were compared according to process variables. SEM, EDS, XRD, and Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) analyses were applied in this study.

---

This work was supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea Rep.) under Industrial Technology Innovation Program No. 20017647 “Development of oxide dispersion strengthened superalloy materials and manufacturing technology for hypersonic engines”. This results was supported by “Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS)” through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE) (2021RIS-003)