Additive Manufacturing of FeCrAl Alloys for Nuclear Applications - A Focused Review

FeCrAl alloys exhibit outstanding high-temperature oxidation resistance and impressive mechanical strength, rendering them as forefront materials with broad applicability across various engineering domains, notably in the nuclear field. In addition to their unique properties, they are likely to continue to hold important place in these applications due to tremendous potential in their fabrication through versatile additive manufacturing techniques. In light of this, current review article conducts an exhaustive examination of recent research, providing a comprehensive overview of the progress made in the additive manufacturing of FeCrAl alloys. The exploration entails a thorough analysis of the challenges encountered in fusion-based fabrication, a detailed scrutiny of their microstructural characteristics, assessments of their mechanical and oxidation properties, and an exploration of their potential utility in applications related to irradiation. Some of the recent results on performance of AM based FeCrAl alloys increase the confidence on deploying AM for fabrication of these challenging materials. For instance, the laser welded FeCrAl alloy, irradiated at 560 °C up to 1.9 dpa showed no degradation of the mechanical performance and exhibited mechanical properties comparable to the wrought alloys.