Microstructure evolution for isothermal sintering of binder jet 3D printed alloy 625 above and below the solidus temperature

Abstract When compared to beam-based melting methods, binder jet 3D printing is less time consuming, and the printed material is less prone to residual stresses. However, binder jet printing often contains remnant porosity that survives pressureless sintering and limits the mechanical properties of metals including fatigue strength and ductility. In this work, gas atomized nickel-based superalloy 625 powders with three different particle size distributions are binder jet printed and subsequently isothermally sintered at subsolidus and supersolidus temperatures. Individual feature measurements were conducted on two-dimensional sections and pore size distribution frequencies were plotted to reveal the difference in microstructural evolution between subsolidus and supersolidus sintering. Supersolidus liquid phase sintering is thought to have facilitated particle rearrangement under the surface tension of the liquid phase, resulting in a homogeneous microstructure that favored subsequent densification and higher final density. Additionally, printed powder with a wide particle size distribution not only reached high green density of ~52%, but also achieved final densities above 99%.