Evaluation of efficiency and mechanical properties of Inconel 718 components built by wire and powder laser material deposition

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare powder and wire laser material deposition (LMD) processes. Design/methodology/approach In the present paper, Inconel 718 tensile test probes were built layer by layer using a longitudinal strategy, and the quality of the deposited material was characterized for both wire and powder LMD processes. The measured data during the deposition tests have been used for comparing the efficiency of both powder and wire LMD processes. Afterwards, to evaluate the mechanical properties of the parts generated by means of both processes, standard tensile tests were carried out. Furthermore, other factors have been evaluated, such as process reliability or presence of residual material, after the deposition process. Findings Results show a higher efficiency of the wire LMD process, and even similar ultimate tensile stress values were reached for both processes; powder LMD parts resulted in a more brittle nature. Originality/value In the present paper, a thorough analysis that compared both processes has been carried out. The results obtained will help in the future when choosing between wire and powder LMD. The main points of the wealth of knowledge generated with these research efforts are highlighted herein.