Deformation behavior of grains near defects in direct metal laser sintered inconel 718 during indentation

The present work utilizes Orientation Imaging Microscopy and Finite Element Modelling to analyse microstructure evolution in grains near defects during plane strain indentation of direct metal laser sintered Inconel 718. Defects are inevitably produced during printing of metals and they degrade the mechanical behaviour of parent components. Understanding microstructure evolution of grains present near defects can help create better predictive models of mechanical behaviour of components resulting from additive manufacturing. In this work, an ex - situ study of microstructure evolution during plane strain indentation of DMLS Inconel 718 specimens is performed. Regions that lie near volumetric porosity defects were studied. Grain Orientation Spread was utilized as a metric to quantify intra - granular deformation. It was seen that microstructure evolution of grains near defects is enhanced due to strain concentrations whereby they exhibit larger orientation spread after plastic deformation. Finite Element Analysis was used to simulate the plane strain indentation test on the specimen in which, porosity defects and roughness textures similar to those seen in the as-received specimen were programmed using the python scripting interface of Abaqus. Results from finite element analysis were compared with insights from microstructure analysis to describe evolution of microstructure during deformation near defects.