Powder Reuse Effects on the Tensile Behavior of Additively Manufactured Inconel 718 Parts

Inconel 718 (IN718), with a wide range of applications in aerospace industries and good weldability, is a popular powder feedstock in the laser beam powder bed fusion (LB-PBF) additive manufacturing (AM) process. Due to fabrication, handling, and storage costs, powder feedstock is commonly reused several times. Therefore, it is important to understand how the mechanical properties of LB-PBF parts can be affected by powder reuse given that powder characteristics may change after repeated recycling. This study aims to investigate the effect of powder reuse on the tensile properties of LB-PBF IN718 parts. Powder characteristics such as cohesion and compressibility will be quantified in order to shed light on the variations observed in the part performances. In addition, by correlating the state of the reused powder with tensile properties, the most critical metrics for quality aspects in powder reuse will be determined.