Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) for additively manufacturing (AM) critical components has been used to ensure safety by improving performance and reliability. For many AM materials used in critical applications the thermal post processing extends beyond HIP, typically requiring stress relief, high temperature solution annealing, rapid cooling or quenching, and age treatment to deliver the needed quality to compete with cast or wrought variants. AM is a disruptive technology offering many advantages over conventional manufacturing techniques but additional post processing steps contribute to added cost and lead time making the business case often prohibitive. To simplify the adoption of AM integrated strategies must be evaluated and implemented throughout the AM process chain including post process heat treatment of the product.
This presentation will discuss the use of modern Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) technology as a production process for use on critical applications that demand maximum material performance and reliability.
Background on HIP will be captured, including a brief introduction and summary of the fundamentals and typical applications. Then advancements in HIP technology enabling the ability to combine multiple post processing steps including HIP and heat treatment all in a HIP vessel will be discussed highlighting the opportunities from a productivity, sustainability, producibility and performance standpoint. This strategy is referred to as High Pressure Heat Treatment (HPHT). Finally, a case study leveraging the HPHT approach for EOS printed CuCrZr will be reviewed.
Learning Objectives:
- List the benefits hot isostatic pressing offers metal/ceramic AM including defect elimination, property improvement, reduction in property data scatter, and improved machined/polished surface quality.
- Describe modern HIP equipment and the performance offerings that enable multiple thermal segments to be integrated including stress relief, HIP, solution heat treat, rapid cooling or quenching, and age.
- Define a case study involving the use of high-pressure heat treatment on L-PBF CuCrZr for improvement in productivity while meeting performance requirements.
