Modeling and Prediction of the Laser Surface Annealing Process of Inconel 718
Liufa LIU, Akio HIROSE and Kojiro F. KOBAYASHI
Abstract:Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) of aged Inconel 718 was decreased by the laser surface annealing (LSA) process. By varying LSA process parameters, the applicable parameter scope of the LSA process was established concerning a plate with 3mm thickness. Dissolution kinetics of the " phase in this alloy was deduced via thermal cycling experiments. Via finite element method (FEM) simulations, laser absorption coefficients of the sample surface were deduced and the thermal process of each LSA process was calculated. With these thermal simulation results, the annealed surface layer thickness and the hardness distribution profile were calculated based on the established kinetic prediction equations of@" dissolution process. Good agreements between the calculated and the measured results showed feasibilities of applying this modeling and prediction approach to practical applications. Key Words:Hydrogen embrittlement, Laser annealing, Inconel 718, FEM simulation, Annealed surface layer