Cold spray additive manufacturing of Invar 36 alloy: microstructure, thermal expansion and mechanical properties

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2020.07.038

Abstract

Abstract:

In this work, the Invar 36 alloys were manufactured using cold spray (CS) additive manufacturing technique. The systematic investigations were made on the microstructural evolution, thermal expansion and mechanical properties under as-sprayed (AS) and heat-treated (HT) conditions. XRD (X-ray diffraction) and ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy) analyses show that no phase transformation, oxidation, nor element content change have occurred. The X-ray computed tomography (XCT) exhibited a near fully dense structure with a porosity of 0.025% in the helium-produced sample under as-sprayed condition, whereas the nitrogen-produced samples produced at 5 MPa and 800 °C show more irregular pore defects. He-AS sample shows a more prominent grain refinement than that of nitrogen samples due to the more extensive plastic deformation. The post heat-treatment exhibited a promoted grain growth, inter-particle diffusion, as well as the formation of annealing twins. Between 25 °C and 200 °C, the nitrogen samples possessed lower CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) values (1.53 × 10^-6/°C) compared with those produced by casting and laser additive manufacturing. The He-AS samples exhibited a noticeable negative CTE value between 25 °C and 200 °C, which may due to the significant compressive residual stress (-272 MPa) compensating its displacement with temperature increase during CTE test. The N2-HT and He-HT Invar 36 samples present a notable balance between strength and ductility. In conclusion, the CS technique can be considered as a potential method to produce the Invar 36 component with high thermal and mechanical performance.

Key words: Cold spray, Additive manufacturing, Invar 36 alloy, Coefficient of thermal expansion, Tensile test

Chaoyue Chen, Yingchun Xie, Longtao Liu, Ruixin Zhao, Xiaoli Jin, Shanqing Li, Renzhong Huang, Jiang Wang, Hanlin Liao, Zhongming Ren. Cold spray additive manufacturing of Invar 36 alloy: microstructure, thermal expansion and mechanical properties[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2021, 72: 39-51.

Figures/Tables 18

Fig. 1. Surface morphology of the Invar 36 alloy powder by SEM observation and the inserted image showing the etched cross-sectional morphology with grain structure.

Table 1 CS deposition parameters for the fabrication of Invar 36 alloy samples and their annotations for the reference.

Annotation	Propelling gas	Pressure (MPa)	Temperature (°C)
N1-AS/HT	Nitrogen	3.0	800
N2-AS/HT	Nitrogen	5.0	800
He-AS/HT	Helium	2.0	800

Fig. 2. OM images of the CS Invar 36 alloys under different conditions, with the dotted circle indicating the pores: (a) N1-AS, (b) N2-AS, and (c) He-AS.

Fig. 3. XCT reconstruction of the pore defects within the CS Invar alloys under different deposition conditions: (a) N1-AS, (b) N2-AS, and (c) He-AS.

Table 2 Deposition efficiency and particle impact velocity of Invar 36 alloys under different CS deposition conditions.

Propelling gas	Pressure, MPa	Temperature (°C)	Deposition efficiency (%)	Particle impact velocity (m/s)
Nitrogen	3	800	66.83	752.1
Nitrogen	5	800	79.34	807.6
Helium	2	800	92.61	1097.4

Fig. 4. XRD patterns of CS Invar 36 alloys under AS and HT conditions: (a) overview and (b) magnified view of the boxed area in (a).

Table 3 Element content (wt.%) of feedstock powders and CS samples obtained by ICP.

Sample	Fe	Ni	Mn	Si
Powder	Bal.	36.2	0.36	0.17
N1-AS	Bal.	36.1	0.35	0.16
N2-AS	Bal.	36.2	0.35	0.17
He-AS	Bal.	36.1	0.34	0.16

Fig. 5. Microstructure evolution of CS Invar 36 alloys under as-sprayed and heat-treated conditions: (a) N1-AS, (b) N2-AS, (c) He-AS, (d) N1-HT, (e) N2- HT and (f) He- HT.

Fig. 6. EBSD analyses including the inverse pole figures (IPF) (first column) and grain boundary maps (second column) of the as-sprayed Invar 36 alloys fabricated at different conditions: (a) N2-AS and (b) He-AS.

Fig. 7. EBSD analyses including the inverse pole figures (IPF) (first column) and grain boundary maps (second column) of the heat-treated Invar 36 alloys fabricated under different conditions: (a) N2- HT and (b) He-HT.

Fig. 8. Residual stress variation of CS Invar 36 alloys under different conditions.

Fig. 9. Thermal expansion results of CS Invar alloys under different conditions: (a) as-sprayed, and (b) heat-treated samples.

Fig. 10. Detailed thermal expansion results of CS Invar alloys within different temperature ranges: (a) 25-100 °C, (b) 100-200 °C, (c) 200-300 °C, and (d) 300-400 °C.

Table 4 CTE values (×10-6/°C) within different temperature ranges of CS Invar alloys.

Sample	25-200 °C	25-100 °C	100-200 °C	200-300 °C	300-400 °C
N1-AS	3.63	2.08	4.78	12.97	16.70
N1-HT	3.36	2.39	4.00	11.51	17.40
N2-AS	3.27	1.72	4.38	12.90	17.00
N2-HT	2.83	1.89	3.50	12.07	17.00
He-AS	-8.68	-7.39	-1.44	11.30	16.30
He-HT	3.90	3.01	6.02	11.82	16.50
SLM as-built [7]	3.0	0.5	2.0	7.0	/
SLM as-built [8]	3.56	/	/	/	/
SLM stress-relieved [8]	3.68	/	/	/	/
SLM as-built [6]	3.5	/	/	/	/
Cast and forged [37]	2	/	/	/	/

Fig. 11. Load-depth curve during nano-indentation of the CS Invar 36 alloys under different conditions, with the inserted table showing the hardness values.

Fig. 12. Engineering stress-strain curves of the CS Invar 36 alloys under different conditions: (a) overview and (b) magnified view for the stran below 1.0 %.

Table 5 Mechanical properties of CS Invar 36 alloy under different conditions and the comparison with SLM and commercial ones.

Samples	Yield strength (MPa)	UTS (MPa)	Elongation (%)	Young’s modulus (GPa)
N2-AS	/	210.0	0.17	123.96
N2-HT	347.5	472.3	21.20	137.3
He-AS	/	544.0	0.56	139.4
He-HT	353.0	474.0	25.20	140.8
SLM Invar 36 alloy [6]	400	538	25
SLM+HT Invar 36 alloy [6]	325	440	29
Commercial Invar 36-Annealed [38]	276	448	35	145

Fig. 13. Fracture morphologies of the CS Invar alloys under different conditions: (a) N2-AS, (b) He-AS, (c) N2-HT, and (d) He-HT with different magnifications.

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