Effect of Laser Mode and Power on the Tribological Behavior of Additively Manufactured Inconel 718 Alloy

Abstract

The influence of laser modes and power on the tribological behavior of additively manufactured Inconel 718 alloy using the directed energy deposition (DED) process was investigated. The samples were fabricated with continuous wave (CW) and pulse wave (PW) laser modes using 700, 900, and 1100 W laser power. The samples exhibited high hardness (3–5 GPa) and modulus (150–200 GPa) which increases with the laser power for CW- and PW-fabricated samples, and this was associated with the increasing densification and hardening secondary phase. The coefficient of friction increases with laser power for the CW samples but decreases for the PW samples. The samples exhibited low wear rates ranging between 25 and 70 × 10−5 mm3/Nm. Pulse wave samples demonstrated better tribological performance compared to continuous wave at any laser power. The dominant wear mechanism is the three-body abrasive wear followed by localized and discrete adhesion wear mechanism.