Manufacturing of functional (ready to use) parts with the powder bed fusion method has seen an increase in recent times in the field of aerospace and in the medical sector. Residual stresses (RS) induced due to the process itself can lead to defects like cracks and delamination in the part leading to the inferior quality of the part. These RS are one of the main reasons preventing the process from being adopted widely. The powder bed methods have several processing parameters that can be optimized for improving the quality of the component, among which, build orientation is one. In this current study, influence of the build orientation on the residual stress distribution for the Ni-based super-alloy Inconel 718 fabricated by laser-based powder bed fusion method is studied by non- destructive technique of neutron diffraction at selected cross-sections. Further, RS generated in the entire part was predicted using a simplified layer by layer approach using a finite element (FE) based thermo-mechanical numerical model. From the experiment, the part printed in horizontal orientation has shown the least amount of stress in all three directions and a general tendency of compressive RS at the center of the part and tensile RS near the surface was observed in all the samples. The build with vertical orientation has shown the highest amount of RS in both compression and tension. Simplified simulations results are in good agreement with the experimental value of the stresses.

With the improvement in technology, additive manufacturing using metal powder has been a go-to method to produce complex-shaped components. With complex shapes being printed, the residual stresses (RS) developed during the printing process are much more difficult to control and manage, which is one of the issues seen in the field of AM. A simplified finite element-based, layer-by-layer activation approach for the prediction of residual stress is presented and applied to L-shaped samples built in two different orientations. The model was validated with residual stress distributions measured using neutron diffraction. It has been demonstrated that this simplified model can predict the trend of the residual stress distribution well inside the parts and give insight into residual stress evolution during printing with time for any area of interest. Although the stress levels predicted are higher than the measured ones, the impact of build direction on the development of RS during the building process and the final RS distributions after removing the base plate could be exploited using the model. This is important for finalizing the print orientation for a complex geometry, as the stress distribution will be different for different print orientations. This simplified tool which does not need high computational power and time can also be useful in component design to reduce the residual stresses.

Process parameters in laser-based powder bed fusion (LBPF) play a vital role in the part quality. In the current study, the influence of different novel scan strategies on residual stress, porosities, microstructure, and crystallographic texture has been investigated for complex L-shape parts made from nickelbased superalloy Inconel 718 (IN718). Four different novel scanning strategies representing total fill, re-melting, and two different sectional scanning strategies, were investigated using neutron diffraction, neutron imaging, and scanning electron microscopy techniques. These results were compared with the corresponding results for an L-shape sample printed with the conventional strategy used for achieving high density and more uniform crystallographic texture. Among these investigated novel strategies, the re-melting strategy yielded approximately a 25% reduction in surface residual stress in comparison to the reference sample. The other two sectional scanning strategies revealed porosities at the interfaces of the sections and due to these lower levels of residual stress were also observed. Also, variation in crystallographic texture was observed with different scan strategies.