COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF NICKEL-BASED SUPERALLOYS ABD900 AND INCONEL 718 FABRICATED BY LASER POWDER BED FUSION

Abstract

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) is one of the most promising additive manufacturing technologies for producing metal components with complex geometries, enabling the fabrication of parts with high mechanical and operational performance. In this study, a comparative investigation of porosity formation in high-temperature nickel-based superalloys ABD900 and Inconel 718 fabricated by LPBF under identical processing parameters was carried out. Cubic samples with dimensions of 10 × 10 × 10 mm were produced using a laser power of 195 W, a scanning speed of 1100 mm/s, a hatch spacing of 0.09 mm, and a layer thickness of 40 μm. Metallographic analysis was performed using optical microscopy, followed by quantitative porosity evaluation using ImageJ software. It was found that the ABD900 alloy samples exhibit a lower porosity level compared to Inconel 718. The pore sizes in Inconel 718 samples range from 2 to
10 μm, with maximum values reaching 12–14 μm, whereas in ABD900 they are predominantly within the range of 2–12 μm, with no larger isolated defects observed.