A 3D Printable Alloy Designed for Extreme Environments

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 617; no. 7961; pp. 513 - 518
• Main Authors: Smith, Timothy M., Kantzos, Christopher A., Zarkevich, Nikolai A., Harder, Bryan J., Heczko, Milan, Gradl, Paul R., Thompson, Aaron C., Mills, Michael J., Gabb, Timothy P., Lawson, John W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Glenn Research Center Nature Research 18.05.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Publishing Group UK
• Subjects: Additive manufacturing; Alloy development; Alloying elements; Alloys; Chemistry and Materials (General); Chromium base alloys; Composite Materials; Design; Dispersion; Dispersion hardening alloys; Dispersion strengthening; Ductility; Extreme environments; Grain boundaries; Laser applications; Lasers; Manufacturing; Manufacturing industry; Mechanical properties; Microstructure; Nickel base alloys; Oxidation; Oxidation resistance; Powder beds; Strain hardening; Structural Mechanics; Temperature; Tensile strength; Three dimensional printing; Yield stress; Yttrium oxide
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05893-0

Multiprincipal-element alloys are an enabling class of materials owing to their impressive mechanical and oxidation-resistant properties, especially in extreme environments. Here we develop a new oxide-dispersion-strengthened NiCoCr-based alloy using a model-driven alloy design approach and laser-based additive manufacturing. This oxide-dispersion-strengthened alloy, called GRX-810, uses laser powder bed fusion to disperse nanoscale Y2O3 particles throughout the microstructure without the use of resource-intensive processing steps such as mechanical or in situ alloying. We show the successful incorporation and dispersion of nanoscale oxides throughout the GRX-810 build volume via high-resolution characterization of its microstructure. The mechanical results of GRX-810 show a twofold improvement in strength, over 1,000-fold better creep performance and twofold improvement in oxidation resistance compared with the traditional polycrystalline wrought Ni-based alloys used extensively in additive manufacturing at 1,093 °C. The success of this alloy highlights how model-driven alloy designs can provide superior compositions using far fewer resources compared with the ‘trial-and-error’ methods of the past. These results showcase how future alloy development that leverages dispersion strengthening combined with additive manufacturing processing can accelerate the discovery of revolutionary materials.