New insights into the anisotropic ductility of additively manufactured Inconel 718

Anisotropic ductility in additively manufactured (AM) alloys, namely better ductility along the building direction (BD) has been extensively studied and traditionally attributed to the crystallographic texture. However, recent studies have shown significant ductility anisotropy in weakly or non-textured AM alloys, indicating that other factors may also play critical roles. To explore this, AM Inconel 718 with weak crystallographic texture was selected as the model material, and the in-situ high-energy X-ray diffraction tests together with multiscale microstructural characterization techniques were performed to explore the deformation micromechanisms. The results of this study, for the first time, revealed that the better ductility in the vertical specimen (loading parallel to BD) was partially due to the negative stress triaxiality factor (TF) of the {220} grains during plastic deformation, which results in the shrinkage or even healing of the microvoids. Furthermore, the δ-phase alignment in conjunction with grain boundary orientation were also proved to have a pronounced impact on the anisotropic ductility of AM alloys. On the other hand, though in the overall weak-textured microstructure, the proportion of 〈101〉 grains were marginally over other grains. Thus, the positive effect of {220} grains on ductility was stronger than the negative effect of {200} and {311} grains, contributing to the excellent failure elongation exceeding 12% for both samples. The findings of this study shed new light on the mechanisms underlying the anisotropic ductility of AM alloys and provide insight into strategies for enhancing their performance.