Influence of energy density on the microstructure and property regulation of additive manufactured pure nickel

In this work, laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology was used to fabricate pure nickel components, and the densification behavior and microstructure of pure nickel with different energy densities were investigated. The results indicate that for LPBF-fabricated pure nickel components, the relative density reaches a peak of 98.76% at an energy density of 101 J/mm(3). With the increase of energy density, a large number of pores appear inside the grains, and the grains grow epitaxially along the building direction within multiple molten pools, pores gradually disappear after undergoing remelting at the edges of the melting tracks. Among these, competitive inward growth of columnar crystals may be the main cause of dislocations and new grain generation. The grains are primarily distributed along the Ni (111) or Ni (110) orientations, and with the increase of energy density, the grains with these two orientations increase. The surface energy follows the sequence of Ni (220) > Ni (200) > Ni (111). Due to the stacking of the <101> oriented main layer and the <001> oriented sub-layer in the building direction, the sample with higher energy density exhibits a strong Ni {110} texture, accompanied by increased tensile properties.