Neutrons Help Improve 3D-Printed Superalloys

Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is a new way of making metal parts and other types of materials by building them layer by layer. This research project, by researchers at General Electric, the Edison Welding Institute, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), printed an alloy composed of Inconel 718 and René 41 at two ends with a compositional graded region in the middle. The study evaluated the stress and composition variations of the alloy. To do so, the researchers conducted neutron experiments at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at ORNL, both Department of Energy Office of Science user facilities. Neutrons are ideally suited to study internal stresses in materials because they can penetrate dense metals.