Investigation of residual stresses by micro indentation in selective laser melting

Abstract

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) of functional parts production from metals are becoming widespread and are preferred by many industries thanks to their wide material portfolio. However, there are still challenges that need to be overcome for the emerging SLM process which is relatively immature in comparison to conventional manufacturing methods. One of the main challenges for the process is the high meltingsolidification rate resulting in residual stresses. Among the different number of residual stress measurement techniques, micro indentation has the advantage of not requiring new investments. In this article, residual stresses of SLMed Inconel 625, which is a nickel superalloy widely used in aerospace, were investigated by the micro indentation technique. The values obtained were found to be compatible with other nickel superalloy studies available in the literature.