Microstructure and mechanical properties of K438 alloy processed by selective laser melting and subsequent heat treatment

In this work, K438 nickel-based high-temperature alloy was successfully prepared and heat-treated by selected laser melting (SLM). A comparative study of the microstructure and mechanical properties of different samples was carried out to reveal the influence of SLM process parameters and heat treatment. The layer-by-layer fabrication in SLM created a special sunflower-shaped dendrites and the extremely fast cooling rate resulted in a large number of low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) and inhomogeneous γ’ phases being found in the samples. After heat treatment, the orbital structure within the tissue disappeared and the coarse square γ’ phase (0.4 to 0.8 μm) melted and precipitated fine rounded secondary γ’ phases (0.05 μm). During recrystallisation, the LAGBs to high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) transition occurs and many fine grain clusters appear at the grain boundaries, resulting in subcrystalline nucleation based on subcrystals and an increase in UTS.