Laser-assisted directed energy deposition of nickel super alloys: A review

Laser additive manufacturing using directed energy deposition (LAM-DED) is an advanced manufacturing process widely deployed for fabricating near net-shaped engineering components. LAM-DED has been successfully used for processing wide variety of pure metals and their alloys. The list of these metals and alloys is appending rapidly. Among the various materials successfully deployed for LAM-DED, nickel super alloys are extensively used for various engineering applications due to the unique combination of superior properties, such as high temperature strength, oxidation, corrosion resistance, etc. Recent studies show that LAM-DED built nickel super alloys finds wide applications in aerospace and automotive sector for fabricating engineering components, repairing, remanufacturing, and cladding. Considering the importance of LAM-DED and nickel super alloys, significant amount of work is already reported. This paper presents a comprehensive review on LAM-DED of nickel super alloys. It introduces LAM technology and nickel super alloys with a compilation of various lasers and processing parameters deployed for LAM-DED of nickel super alloys. The paper compiles the metallurgy, mechanical properties, processing issues, and effect of post-processing on LAM-DED built nickel super alloys. This paper will serve as a quick-start for novices to understand LAM-DED of nickel super alloys and will be useful as a reference document for researchers and industrialists in the field.