Investigations of performance characteristics on direct metal laser sintered MONEL K-500 superalloy

MONEL K-500 superalloy is difficult to manufacture precisely in traditional manufacturing processes like casting, forming and machining. The direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process is one of the best metal additive manufacturing processes used in this work. In this work, Laser Power (LP), Scan Speed (SS), Hatch Distance (HD) and Layer Thickness (LT) are used as DMLS process parameters. L09 Orthogonal array is used for printing the MONEL K-500 metal parts. The performance characteristics like ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and surface toughness (R-a) are improved by 2% and 17% for the Taguchi optimum parameter levels. Contour plots explained the interaction effects of DMLS process parameters on performance characteristics. The better microstructural characteristics obtained the higher optimum parameter level.