Effects of Homogenization Heat Treatment on Mechanical Properties of Inconel 718 Sandwich Structures Manufactured by Selective Laser Melting

In this study, lightweight sandwich structures with honeycomb cores are proposed and their mechanical properties are investigated through experiments and FEA (finite element analysis) simulation. Sandwich structures were fabricated out of Inconel 718 using selective laser melting technique with two different topologies-sandwich structures with perforated skin (SSPS) and sandwich structures with perforated core (SSPC). In addition, the effect of the homogenization heat treatment on the mechanical properties of the sandwich samples subjected to compression and microhardness tests was analyzed. Results showed significant increases of mechanical performance before and after homogenization heat treatment of the Inconel 718 samples. Microstructure analysis was performed to compare the microstructures before and after homogenization heat treatment for Inconel 718 alloys manufactured by selective laser melting (SLM). The accuracy of experimental data were evaluated by modeling of sandwich samples in Ansys software at the end of this study.