Effect of hot isostatic pressing on the microstructure of laser powder bed fused A20XTM alloy

In the present work, an attempt has been made to do a combined hot isostatic pressing (HIP) & solution treatment in a single-step and the effect of different cooling rates (quenching and annealing) on the microstructure was examined. For a comparison, solution treatment (without HIP) was also analysed. It was observed that HIP treatment was successful in reducing the macro-porosities of the L-PBF part. Although, it was not an efficient treatment for the dissolution of the θ-Al₂Cu phase. Furthermore, in both HIP-Quenched and HIP-Annealed treatments a sign of incipient melting was observed along the grain boundaries. Solution treatment without HIP did not show incipient melting.