An investigation of densification behavior of nickel alloy powder during hot isostatic pressing

Abstract

Hot isostatic pressing process is used to consolidate powders to manufacture a near net shape parts of complex shapes for many applications including aeronautics. The optimal container design is very expensive to get by trial and error manufacturing method of prototypes. Numerical simulations are the solution to save these costs. The densification behavior of nickel-chromium-cobalt alloy powder was studied by implementing the densification model of Abouaf et al. in the user defined subroutine CREEP of ABAQUS. The rheological functions of Abouaf et al. model were employed for nickel-chromium-cobalt alloy powder to describe the powder behavior under high temperature and pressure. Experimental data were obtained for nickel-chromium-cobalt alloy powder after applying high pressure and temperature during hot isostatic pressing process. Experimental data were compared with finite element calculations. Good agreements were shown between finite element calculations and experimental data for the sample shape change after hot isostatic pressing. (C) 2015 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.