Journal of Manufacturing Processes 75 (2022) 1134–1143

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Journal of Manufacturing Processes

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Wire arc additive manufacturing of Inconel 718: Constitutive modelling

and its microstructure basis
Naiyuan Xi a, Xuewei Fang a, Yusong Duan a, Qi Zhang a, Ke Huang a, b, *
a
The State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, No. 99 Yan Cheung Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710054, China
b
National Key Laboratory for Precision Hot Processing of Metals, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) has become a promising method to fabricate large-scale components
Wire arc additive manufacturing thanks to its high deposition rate and low cost. An accurate constitutive model is essential for analyzing the
Johnson-Cook model deformation behavior of WAAM components intended for high temperature and dynamic or quasi-static con­
Heat treatment
ditions. In this study, a wall-shaped Inconel 718 (IN718) part was successfully fabricated by WAAM. The het­
Second phase particles
Anisotropy
erogeneous microstructure and chemical segregation inherited from the as-deposited (As-Dep) WAAM sample
Nickel-based Superalloy was improved through a modified solution and aging process. This modified heat treatment (MHT), which in­
troduces massive uniformly dispersed γ’/γ” phases, leads to little change in grain structure of the WAAM sample
but significantly eliminates its anisotropy. The relationship between the tensile properties and resultant
microstructure was exploited. The insufficiency of the classical Johnson-Cook (J-C) model to describe the flow
stress of the heat-treated WAAM IN718 alloy components at different deformation temperatures and strain rates
was demonstrated. A modified J-C model, which considers the coupled effects of the temperature and strain rate,
was successfully built for WAAM-IN718. The prediction accuracy of the established J-C model was verified,
yielding a deviation of less than 1.71% between experimental and predicted values.

1. Introduction (LMD), etc.

Inconel (IN) 718 is a widely used nickel-based superalloy in energy,
aerospace sections thanks to their attractive comprehensive mechanical
properties such as high yield and rupture strengths, good creep fatigue
resistance at elevated temperature [1–4]. These critical structural ma­
terials not only need to be quickly manufactured into complex compo­
nents but also need to meet the increase demand of higher mechanical
performances. The development of additive manufacturing (AM) tech­
niques has freed product designs from many limits, also made high-
reliability manufacturing and short development cycles possible.
Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is one of the directed
energy deposition (DED) technologies. Compared to traditional casting,
forging, and subtractive manufacturing, the WAAM process can reduce
fabrication time by more than 40% and post-machining time by more
than 15%, depending on the component size [5]. In addition, WAAM
technology is attractive for the rapid manufacturing of large parts due to
its higher deposition rate than other prevail additive manufacturing
methods, like selective laser melting (SLM), laser metal deposition
It has been proved in some previous studies that it is feasible to
manufacture IN718 components by WAAM, using techniques like
tungsten-inert-gas (TIG) [6,7], plasma arc welding (PAW) [8,9], and
cold metal transfer (CMT) [10,11]. The as-deposited WAAM-IN718 has a
typical dendritic microstructure decorated with Laves phase (Ni, Cr,
Fe)2(Nb, Mo, Ti) phases, carbides NbC/TiN and some δ phase Ni3Nb
[8,12,13], which are generally deemed as harmful for mechanical
properties. The formation of Laves and δ phase consumes the Nb
element, which is intended for precipitation of strengthening phase
γ”-Ni3Nb. The precipitation behavior of carbides is related to the nature
of the WAAM process, and they can only be dissolved above 1200 ◦ C. In
practice, post-heat treatment at this high temperature should be avoid
since this will lead to grain coarsening. The corresponding solution
temperature of about 1100 ◦ C is determined to eliminate the Laves phase
in the cast [14] and wrought IN718 [15]. The body-centered tetragonal
phase γ”, as well as a small amount of face-centered cubic phase γ’ are
precipitated in the subsequent aging treatment. The dispersion of the
strengthening phase can effectively hinder the movement of dislocations

* Corresponding author at: The State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, No. 99 Yan Cheung Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi
710054, China.
E-mail address: ke.huang@xjtu.edu.cn (K. Huang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2022.01.067
Received 20 November 2021; Received in revised form 9 January 2022; Accepted 30 January 2022
Available online 8 February 2022
1526-6125/© 2022 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
N. Xi et al.
during the plastic deformation process, resulting in a high service
strength.
However, the heat treatment methods of WAAMed IN718 compo­
nents is still largely left unexploited. As compared to the traditional
processing methods, there is a complicated metallurgical process and
different starting microstructure during WAAM. A different heat treat­
ment method for WAAMed IN718 must be conducted to reach the best
performance of WAAM component. At present, the strength of WAAM
IN718 at room temperature (RT) has been demonstrated by many
studies to be better than its cast counterparts and comparable to its
wrought components [8,16]. However, the corresponding studies at
elevated temperatures (ET) and wide range of strain rates remain sparse,
while this is very important since most IN718 components are operated
at high temperatures conditions. Under these conditions, the compo­
nents made by WAAM IN718 are prone to creep [1,17], fatigue [18,19],
or high strain-rate damage of impact [20]. Using the finite element (FE)
method is an effective and economical tool to understand the origins of
these damages, but the reliability of the FE method strongly depends,
among others, on the constitutive model.
In order to study the flow stress behavior under high temperature
conditions, Johnson and Cook (J-C) [21] proposed a semi-empirical
constitutive model, assuming that the material is hardened isotropi­
cally while softening, strain rate hardening, and strain hardening are
considered as independent. The J-C model has been successfully used in
various materials with different deformation temperatures and strain
rates [20,22–24]. Many commercial FE software, such as ANSYS/LS-
DYNA and ABAQUS, enable simulation through the built-in J-C model.
Farahani et al. [20] used quasi-static ET tensile method combined with a
high-speed impact test (ballistic) to determine the J-C model parameters
and the maximum difference between the experimental and predicted
value of IN 718 was less than 5%. Based on the classic J-C model, some
researchers [25–27] have developed modified constitutive equations
considering the coupled effects of strain, strain rate, and deformation
temperature. The modified J-C (MJ-C) model introduces more material
constants but yields better prediction accuracy. Developing an artificial
neural network (ANN) model to build the constitutive flow behavior is
another feasible way, and it has been verified in predicting the plastic
deformation behavior of 42CrMo steel [28] and IN718 alloys [29] under
complex loads. However, it is difficult to be implemented in FE software
packages.
It is noticed that, in the open literature, the flow behavior with low
strain rates (0.001 s− 1–1 s− 1) at high-temperature conditions can be
described by the J-C model using tensile [25,30,31] or compression
[26,32,33] tests. Although many J-C models were established to
describe the high-temperature rheological behavior of IN718 alloy
[20,24,34,35], no such model has been reported for WAAMed compo­
nents. Since the starting microstructure and stress state of WAAM IN718
is different from components made by traditional methods such as
casting and forging, a tailored J-C model needs to be developed.
In this work, optimized WAAM process parameters and modified
heat treatment were employed to obtain IN718 wall-shaped compo­
nents. In addition to the analysis of microstructure evolution, the
coupled effects of strain rate, strain, and deformation temperature on
flow stress behavior of WAAM IN718 were investigated. A MJ-C model
was established to predict the flow stress curves, and the accuracy of the
MJ-C model prediction is evaluated by the error calculation method.
This is of great significance for the further in-depth understanding of the
mechanical response of WAAM IN718 components.
2. Experimental methods
2.1. Materials and manufacture process
The filler wire used in the cold metal transfer (CMT) based WAAM
process was a 1.2 mm diameter “AWS A5.14 ERNiFeCr-2” obtained from
Harbin Well Welding Co., Ltd. The chemical composition of the wire was
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 75 (2022) 1134–1143
list in Table 1. The substrate employed in all cases was Q235 steel, with
dimensions of L300 × W300 × H15mm.
A wall-shaped component was built using an advanced CMT + Pulse
(CMT + PA) mode from the WAAM equipment (see Fig. 1(a)), which
consists of a Fornius CMT power source, a CMT torch guided by KUKA
KR16 6-axis industrial robot, as well as a VR1550 wire feeder. The
deposition parameters, including wire feeding speed, travel speed, and
shielding gas flow, are 9.5 m/min, 0.35 m/min and, 25 L/min, respec­
tively. Each layer was deposited in an alternate direction with an
interlayer cooling time of 60s. The final length, width, and height of the
fabricated component are 200 mm,13 mm, 90 mm, respectively, as
shown in Fig. 1 (b).
As heat treatment is almost an inevitable process for the high per­
formance of IN 718 and it is well known that the microstructure and
chemical segregation of WAAM component is different from the forged
counterparts, a modified heat treatments (MHT) method based on
Aerospace Material Specification (AMS) 5383 standard [36] were used
for the WAAM component. This MHT started with a homogenization
treatment at 1185 ◦ C for 1 h, followed by solution treatment at 980 ◦ C
for 1 h. A double aging treatment, i.e., 720 ◦ C for 8 h, and then 620 ◦ C for
8 h was subsequently conducted. K-type thermocouples were welded to
all the samples to accurately measure their actual temperature during
the HT process. After that, specimens for microstructure and property
characterizations were extracted by Wire cut Electrical Discharge
Machining.
2.2. Metallographic and mechanical analysis
The microstructure characterization along two perpendicular planes:
XOZ and XOY was conducted by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM,
Gemimi 500). Energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) was used for
elemental analysis. For Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) test,
samples were polished electrolytically with 10% perchlorate ethanol
solution at 20 V for 30s. The EBSD maps were collected by Scanning
Electron Microscope (ZEISS EVO-10) equipped with an Oxford In­
struments Nordlys detector, a scanning step size of 2– 4 μm was used.
Uniaxial tensile specimens were prepared from both horizontal (H,
building direction) and vertical (V, welding direction) directions
following ASTM E8M/E21 for both the as-deposited and MHT compo­
nent, as shown in Fig. 1(c). The tensile tests at room and high temper­
atures of 400– 600 ◦ C and strain rates of 0.0 001 s− 1–0.01/ s were
carried out with the Instron Universal Test Machine. An extensometer
(Epsilon, model 3549) was used to record the strain. At least three
samples were tested for each condition, and all the elevated temperature
tensile samples have undergone a complete MHT-heat treatment.
3. Experimental results
3.1. Analysis of grain morphology
The microstructures of the deposited samples before and after heat
treatment were examined by optical microscope (OM). Considering the
unstable thermal history of the uppermost and near substrate layers of
the wall-shaped component, only the middle height region was chosen
to study the microstructure characteristics, as shown in Fig. 2. The As-
Dep WAAMed IN718 shows a typical epitaxial growth pattern, and
some dendrites of several millimeters long were observed due to heat
accumulation. These continuous columnar grains make it difficult to
distinguish the interlayer boundaries, and it is hard to accurately obtain
the grain size in this condition due to the limited number of grains.
However, after the MHT, evident fine-grained regions could be identi­
fied between the deposited layers, which benefited from the dissolution
of the dendritic structure, as seen in Fig. 2(b).
The detailed information of grain structure and crystallography was
further examined by the EBSD maps, as seen in Fig. 3. It shows that the
whole section of As-Dep IN718 (see Fig. 3(a), the XOZ plane) was mainly
N. Xi et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 75 (2022) 1134–1143

Table 1
Major chemical composition of IN718 wire (wt%).
Element Ni Cr Fe Nb + Ta Mo Ti Al Mn Si

Composition 53.20 19.49 17.08 5.20 3.20 1.02 0.50 0.13 0.10

Fig. 1. (a) WAAM process (b) photograph of IN718 WAAM wall and (c) room/elevate temperature tensile coupon dimensions.

analysis difficult. Although large areas have been counted, significant

fluctuation of grain size data still exists. It is noted that the width of fine-
grained region in the inter-layer seems to be narrowed after MHT, with a
width of 500 μm, and the grain width of 80.21 ± 66.71 μm. According to
Seow et al.'s work [8], the average grain size of WAAMed IN718 after
heat treatment was three times larger than that after deposition. How­
ever, in another study, the average grain size of SLM-IN718 kept un­
changed in both directions after 1080 ◦ C solution heat treatment [37].
Considering the large scatter in the grain size value, it is reasonable to
say from Table 2 that grain growth may occur during MHT, but much
smaller than the extent of grain coarsening found in Ref. [8]. As for the
Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) maps and distribution curves, see
Fig. 2. Optical micrographs of WAAM-IN718 under (a) As-Dep and (b) in Fig. 4, the KAM value is mostly below 1o, suggesting that the inter­
MHT condition. nally stored energy after deposition is not enough to trigger static

occupied by columnar grains growing along the building direction, Table 2

while there was a fine-grained region with a width of about 800 μm in The average grain size of As-Dep and MHT samples counted from EBSD map
the interlayer area. The average grain width of both region I and II were using intercept method (XOZ plane)
statistically measured in IPF maps using the linear intercept method and Grain size As-Dep MHT
listed in Table 2.
Region I Region II Region III Region IV
After the MHT, as seen in Fig. 3 (c), the original columnar grain
Grain width 201.46 ± 77.95 ± 231.03 ± 80.21 ±
structure still persisted in the cross section. The average grain width is
(μm) 61.29 53.10 46.33 66.71
supposed to increase during MHT. However, it was measured to be Grain length 625.76 ± 267.17 ± 720.06 ± 217.03 ±
231.03 ± 46.33 μm in region III. The inhomogeneity of the initial grain (μm) 110.43 73.10 29.74 47.11
structure of the additive manufacturing components makes quantitative Aspect ratio 3.10 3.42 3.11 2.71

Fig. 3. Inverse pole figure maps of As-Dep IN718 in (a) XOZ plane, (b) XOY plane; MHT-IN718 in (c) XOZ plane, (d) XOY plane.

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N. Xi et al.
recrystallization during the MHT. In fact, the KAM value of the MHT is
even higher than that of AD sample. This signifies that most of the
original grain size and morphology can indeed be retained after solution
heat treatment, and the contribution of the subsequent aging treatment
at even lower temperature to the grain size evolution is negligible.
3.2. Analysis of precipitation
Fig. 5(a) shows the distribution of precipitated phases on the XOZ
plane. It can be seen that there were a large number of white precipitates
(yellow arrows in Fig. 5(a)) between the dendrites. The element distri­
bution in the gray matrix (γ-matrix) and white precipitate phase were
further analyzed by combining the EDS spot scan and the line scan
(Fig. 5(a), (b) and (c)). The main elements in the γ-matrix, represented in
Fig. 5(b), were Ni, Cr, and Fe, with slightly fluctuated. The white pre­
cipitates with rod-like shape were rich in Nb and Mo, as seen in Fig. 5(c).
According to the morphological characteristics and element distribu­
tion, they can be concluded as the Laves phase. The similar observations
of Laves phase are consistent with those reported in direct laser depos­
ited (DLD) IN718 [38], and SLMed IN718 [39]. The Laves phase
consumed a large amount of important solid solution elements such as
Nb, Mo and Ti during WAAM processing, which limited the precipitation
of strengthening phase γ” + γ’.
After MHT, some C-, N-, Ti- and Nb-rich inclusion discontinuously
distributed with white block-like morphology in the microstructure with
a size of about 1– 2 μm. These were carbides formed during WAAM since
they can't be formed during MHT, as they were usually precipitated out
at ~1300 ◦ C. In fact, carbides can also be directly seen in the As-Dep
sample (pointed out by red arrows in Fig. 5a). Fortunately, there were
almost no residual Laves phase and δ phase with a size of more than 2 μm
in the cross section (XOZ plane).
The considerable differences in strength for the As-Dep and MHT
samples must be associated with the Laves phase mitigation and closely
dispersed fine second phase particles. The insert maps of higher
magnification in Fig. 6 (a) and (b) (orange box) showed a large number
of scattered dot/short rod-shaped particles, with length ranges from
17.9 nm to 32.1 nm, and the spacing between adjacent particles was
about 17 nm. According to the particle morphology described in Refs
[37,40,41], these large number of precipitates in the MHT samples
should be γ’/ γ” phases. It is worth noting that the quantity of γ’/γ”
phases in the XOZ and XOY planes were almost the same, as their dis­
tribution density was both about 7– 12 pix per 100 nm2. Under this
condition, the strength and plasticity of the component were mainly
dominated by the large volume fraction of precipitated phases, rather
than grain boundaries.
3.3. Room temperature tensile properties
The room temperature tensile tests corresponding to the strain rate of
0.001 s− 1 are listed in Table 3 for the As-Dep and MHT samples along
both horizontal and vertical directions. It is noted that slightly higher
Fig. 4. Kernel average misorientation map of (a) As-Dep IN718, (b) MHT-IN718; Kernel average misorientation distribution.
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 75 (2022) 1134–1143
strength in the horizontal direction was observed from the As-Dep
samples in multiple tests. The subtle difference in strength between
horizontal and vertical direction indicates that the wall-shaped
component under this process still exhibits a weak directional
dependency.
The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS) for both
horizontal/vertical samples after MHT are at least 74%, 40%, respec­
tively, which are higher than that of the As-Dep samples. The
improvement in strength is obtained with the sacrifice of a minor
decrease in elongation (EL), which is predictable due to the trade-off
between strength and ductility [42,43]. Also, there was almost no di­
rection dependency after MHT, which is different with another work
also using the CMT process [10], as they adopted the heat treatment
method of AMS-5662 M for forged IN718, e.g. solution (hold at
970–980 ◦ C for 1 h) + aging (hold at 718 ◦ C for 8 h; furnace cool to
620 ◦ C, hold for 8 h). The decrease in anisotropy warrants more
explanation.
Tabulated in Table 4 are the tensile properties values of IN718
components (the direction with higher strength after heat treatment)
processed through WAAM, cast and wrought counterparts found in the
literature. It can be seen that the tensile properties of WAAMed IN718
samples at room temperature after MHT are better than those produced
by casting, and are comparable to the corresponding wrought material.
3.4. Flow stress behavior at elevated temperature
The tensile properties at elevated temperatures are vital to high-
temperature materials such as IN718. Fig. 7 shows the true stress-true
strain curves converted from the engineering stress-stress of MHT
WAAM-IN718 based on the high-temperature tensile tests along the
vertical direction. The same work has not been carried out for tensile
tests along the horizontal direction, considering that material strength is
almost isotropic (see Table 3).
When the tensile tests were performed with different strain rates at
400 ◦ C, the flow stress curves almost coincided with each other at plastic
deformation region, e.g., the strength is independent of strain rate.
Similar situation appeared at 500 ◦ C, as the maximum stress difference
was less than 4% at different strain rates. However, at the deformation
temperature further increased to 600 ◦ C, the stress difference under
different strain rates gradually increased.
However, it should be noted that the deformation temperature had a
more significant effect on the tensile strength. A supplementary test at
700 ◦ C was also added, showing that the high temperature flow stress at
400 ◦ C–700 ◦ C exhibited a monotonical decrease with the increase of
temperature.
N. Xi et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 75 (2022) 1134–1143

Fig. 5. The SEM morphology of: (a) As-Dep; Corresponding EDS spectra of (b) γ-matrix and (c) Laves phase.

Fig. 6. The MC particles and uniformly dispersed γ'/γ′′ phases in: (a) XOY plane and (b) XOZ plane after MHT.

chosen to verify the prediction accuracy.

Table 3
In the classical J-C constitutive model, it is assumed that the material
Summary of tensile properties
is hardened isotropically, and the two-dimensional strain and strain rate
HT- As-Dep MHT tensors are described in a simple scalar form:
condition
( )
Direction V H V H σ = (A + Bεn )(1 + Clnε̇* ) 1 − T *M (1)
UTS(MPa) 890.22 ± 841.00 ± 1251.16 ± 1249.32 ±
4.66 8.10 27.13 30.11
where the coefficients have been listed in Table 5.
YS0.2(MPa) 613.17 ± 597.21 ± 1071.17 ± 1070.14 ± When the experimental temperature Tr is 400 ◦ C and the reference
5.31 4.51 11.31 9.27 strain-rate ε̇0 is 0.001 s− 1, the coefficients of A, B, C, n, M can be
EL (%) 32.91 ± 1.20 33.17 ± 2.21 21.43 ± 3.90 20.09 ± 3.02 calculated as 1025.40 MPa, 1066.23 MPa, 1.65*10− 5, 0.87, 1.06,
respectively (the detailed procedure to derive these values are explained
in the next section).
Table 4
Tensile properties of IN718 fabricated at ambient temperature by WAAM and 4.1.2. Evaluation of constitutive models
traditional processing. The comparisons between the measured and calculated results by the
Processing σ0.2 (MPa) UTS (MPa) EL(%) classical J-C model of the MHT-WAAM-IN718 are shown in Fig. 8. It only
has high prediction accuracy under the reference temperature and
This work 1071.17 ± 11.31 1251.16 ± 27.13 21.43 ± 3.90
WAAM(PAW) [8] 932 ± 2 1073 ± 36 21.1 ± 8 reference strain rate. However, the studied material exhibited an
WAAM(CMT) [10] 889 ± 5 1233 ± 16 19.4 ± 3 obvious temperature dependence. Since the coupling effect of high
Cast (AMS5383) [14] 758 862 5 temperature and strain rate is ignored, an increase in the stress-strain
Wrought(AMS5662) 1034 1276 12
curve's prediction error is observed at other temperatures.
[15]

4.2. The modified Johnson-Cook model

4. Constitutive equation of WAAMed IN718 alloy
4.1. The Johnson-Cook model
4.1.1. Identification of model parameters
The true stress-strain data obtained along the building direction
discussed above can be used to determine the parameters of constitutive
equations, and part of the stress-strain data in the wall direction was
4.2.1. The description of the modified constitutive model
In reality, the coupled effects of temperatures, strain rates, and strain
on the flow behaviors of the WAAM-IN718 should be considered, as
suggested by the flow stress curves shown in Fig. 2. So, a modified
Johnson-Cook (MJ-C) model, which considers the yield and strain
hardening portion of the original J-C model, as well as the coupled in­
fluences of the deformation temperature and strain rate on the flow

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N. Xi et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 75 (2022) 1134–1143

Fig. 7. (a) The true stress-strain curves at 400 ◦ C, 500 ◦ C, 600 ◦ C conditions and varying strain rates (10− 2, 10− 3, 10− 4
s− 1); (b) the true stress-strain curves with
strain rates of 10− 3 s− 1 conditions and different temperatures.

determined by the coupled influences of deformation temperature and

Table 5
the holding time (related to strain rate).
The description of parameters in the J-C model.
Here, the temperature of 400 ◦ C was still taken as reference tem­
Parameters Description perature (Tr), and 0.001 s− 1 was set as the reference strain rate (ε̇0 ) to
Σ True stress (MPa) evaluate the material constants of the modified Johnson-Cook model.
ε True strain
ε̇ Strain-rate (s− 1) 4.2.2. Determination of A1, B1, and B2
ε̇0 Reference strain-rate is 0.001(s− 1) When the deformation temperature is 400 ◦ C and strain rate is 10− 3

ε̇* − 1
ε̇ s , Eq. (2) can be expressed as follows:
ε̇0
T Deformation temperature (◦ C)
Tr Reference temperature is 400 (◦ C)
σ = A1 *e− ε/b
+ A2 (3)
Tm Melting temperature (1320 ◦ C)
Then, the values of A1, A2, b can be evaluated as − 294.45 MPa,
T* T − Tr
Tm − Tr 1253.41 MPa, and 0.07, respectively, by the measured stress-strain data,
A, B, C, n, M the material constants as shown in Fig. 9(a).

4.2.3. Determination of constant C1

behaviors, needs to be established and will be explained below:
When using different deformation temperatures and strain rates, Eq.
( )
σ = A1 *e− ε/b + A2 (1 + C1 lnε̇* )exp(F × T * ) (2) (2) can be expressed as follow,
σ
where A1, A2, C1, are the material constants, F is a function of strain rate, = 1 + C1 lnε̇* (4)
A1 *e− ε/b + A2
i.e., F = F (lnε̇* ) and the other parameters are identical to those of Eq.
(1). Substituting the three different strain rates and the corresponding
From true stress-strain curves shown in Fig. 2, it can be seen that flow stress at different strains into Eq. (4), the relationship between
WAAM- IN718 is not sensitive to strain rate below 500 ◦ C (the effect of
σ
A1 *e− ε/b +A2
− 1 and lnε̇* can be obtained (shown in Fig. 9(b)). However, the
strain hardening and temperature softening do exist, but it is not calculated value of C1 is close to zero, no matter what fitting method is
apparent). The main difference in the plastic deformation stage is adopted, as it exhibited strain rate-independent behavior under the

Fig. 8. Comparisons between measured and calculated flow stress by classical J-C model

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3
Fig. 9. (a) Relationship between σ and ε (at deformation temperature 400 ◦ C with a strain rate of 10− s− 1); (b) relationship between A1 *e−
σ
ε/b +A
2
− 1 and lnε̇*.

same temperature in the quasi-static tensile process (Fig. 2). Here, for { }
σ
the convenience of calculation, C1 was set as 1.67e-5 according to the ln = F × T* (6)
linear fitting method. [(A1 *e− ε/b + A2 )(1 + C1 lnε̇* ) ]
For different strain rates, strain, and deformation temperatures, the
4.2.4. Determination of function F { }
When the deformation temperature is 400 ◦
C, Eq. (2) can be relationships between ln A *e− ε/b +Aσ (1+C lnε̇* ) and T* can be obtained,
[( 1 2) 1 ]
expressed as follows: as shown in Fig. 10(a), (b), (c). Then, F(ε =0.01/s), F(ε•=0.001s− 1) and
•

σ F(ε•=0.0001s− 1) can be evaluated as − 0.45, − 0.29 and − 0.47,

= exp(F × T * ) (5)
[(A1 *e− ε/b + A2 )(1 + C1 lnε̇* ) ] respectively.
As mentioned earlier, F is only the function of strain rate, then the
Taking the logarithm of both sides of Eq. (5) gives,
relationship between F and lnε̇* will be obtained by binomial fitting
method (Fig. 10(d)), and F can be expressed as:

{ }
2 − 1 3 − 1 4 − 1
Fig. 10. Relationship between ln [(A1 *e−
σ
* and T* for different strain rate: (a) ε̇* =10− s ; (b) ε̇* =10− s ; (c) ε̇* =10− s ; and (d) the relationship
2 )(1+C1 lnε̇
ε/b +A )]
*
between F and lnε̇

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F = − 0.29 + 0.0046 × lnε̇* − 0.033 × (lnε̇* )2 (7)
Finally, the modified Johnson-Cook model can be express as an
equation set:
⎧ ( )( )
⎨ σ = − 294.45*e− ε/0.07 + 1253.41 1 − 1.67e− 5 lnε̇* exp(F × T * )
(8)
⎩
F = − 0.29 + 0.0046 × lnε̇* − 0.033 × (lnε̇* )2
4.2.5. Evaluation of modified constitutive models
The prediction power of the modified J-C model is now tested against
experimental data. Fig. 11 shows the comparisons between the
measured and predicted flow stress curves of WAAM IN718 by the
modified J-C model using three different strain rates at 400 ◦ C. It in­
dicates that the predicted flow stresses agree well with the measured
values. In order to verify the versatility of the model, some experimental
conditions, which have not been used to tune the model parameters,
were also verified with the model. The average absolute error (Δ) was
used here to evaluate the precision of the MJ-C model quantitatively:
i=N ⃒ ⃒
1 ∑ ⃒σim − σ ic ⃒
Δ= ⃒
⃒
⃒ × 100% (9)
N i=1 σm ⃒
i
where σm and σ c are experiment-measured data and calculated data,
respectively. The Δ values were listed in Table 6. When the strain ranged
from 0.045 to 0.12 at an interval of 0.005, the maximum Δ of MJ-C was
1.71%, while the maximum Δ of classical J-C was 14.44%.
The results indicate that the modified Johnson-Cook model can give
an accurate and precise estimate of the flow stress for the studied
WAAM-IN718. This paves the way to analyze plastic deformation at high
temperatures and under quasi-static conditions of WAAM-IN718
component.
5. Discussion
5.1. The mechanism of isotropic mechanical properties
In the additive manufacturing of metallic components, columnar
crystals growing along the 〈100〉 direction are widely accepted [53], and
the microstructure has a significant impact on the mechanical proper­
ties. The grain size difference in the horizontal and vertical directions
generally produces prominent anisotropic mechanical properties. Some
similar conclusions of additive manufacturing IN718 have been reported
[17,44].
Generally, the strengthening effects in IN718 are caused by the
intrinsic yield strength σ0 [45] of pure nickel alloys, the solid solution
strengthening σss [46], grain boundary strengthening σD and second-
phase particle strengthening σp, etc.
For the As-Dep IN718, assuming that σ0 and σss are constant, then the
yield strength increment caused by grain size can be calculated with
Fig. 11. Verification results under different conditions
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 75 (2022) 1134–1143
ΔσD = DK1/2 [47], Where D is the grain size and K is the Hall-Petch slope
ranging from 710 to 750 MPa⋅μm1/2, and 710 MPa⋅μm1/2 is used in this
work. Therefore, Δσ Din the horizontal and vertical directions is calcu­
lated to be 50.02– 80.42 MPa and 28.38– 43.43 MPa, respectively,
which perform a weakly anisotropy. By contrast, Δσ D is significantly
different in the selective laser melting (SLM) process. It is known that the
molten pool size of SLM is much smaller than the WAAM process, and
the solidification rate of SLM (105–107 K/s) is also much higher than that
of WAAM (101–103 K/s) [48,49]. Therefore, the SLM process is easier to
produce ultrafine columnar grained microstructure, with an aspect ratio
of about 10 (the grain width is about 12 μm, and the grain length about
120 μm). The yield strength increments caused by the grain size in the
horizontal and vertical directions are 204.96 MPa and 64.81 MPa,
respectively, which is one of the critical reasons for the anisotropic
mechanical properties of SLM-IN718.
The grain size in this study is about 5–6 times that of SLM-IN718
[44]. Therefore, it can usually be seen that the mechanical properties
of SLM-IN718 are better than that of WAAM in the deposited state, but
the anisotropic mechanical properties are alleviated [8].
In addition, the contribution of the precipitated phase to strength is
one of the most important factors. For the As-Dep IN718, the precipi­
tated phases are mainly composed of Laves and MC arranged along the
<100> direction, and there may be a tiny amount of nano γ’/ γ” phases
produced by in-situ heat treatment during the deposition process.
Assuming that the strengthening phases are randomly distributed,
namely the yield strength increment of γ’/ γ” phases in all directions are
the same so that the Orowan mechanism [50] can explain σp caused by
Laves and MC:
MGb ln(d/b)
σ p = Δσ Orowan = 0.81 (10)
2π(1 − ν)1/2 λ − d
where M is Taylor factor, G is the shear modulus of the γ-matrix, b is the
Burgers vector, ν is the Poisson's ratio, d is the average diameter of the
particle, and λ is the spacing between particles.
Fig. 12 shows the schematic diagram of the microstructure when
applying the tension along with the horizontal and vertical directions. It
indicated that the particle spacing in the horizontal direction(λH) is
much larger than that in the vertical direction(λV), so the ΔσOrowan
caused by the H direction is smaller than the V direction, which offsets
the increase in yield strength caused by the grain size, even perform a
slightly higher yield strength in the vertical direction for (about 20
MPa).
For the MHT IN718, the anisotropic mechanical properties are
almost eliminated. The Laves phase is basically dissolved after the MHT
process, and there are only a minimal amount of discrete residual Laves
and MC particles of 1–2 μm, indicating that their contribution to
strength is weak in both horizontal and vertical directions. Although the
strength discrepancy caused by the grain size still exists, it is negligible
N. Xi et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 75 (2022) 1134–1143

Table 6
The average absolute error Δ calculated by both BD and WD samples
Δ% T 400 ◦ C 500 ◦ C 600 ◦ C
− 2 − 1 − 3 − 1 − 4 − 1 − 2 − 1 − 3 − 1 − 4 − 1 2 − 1 3 − 1 4 − 1
ε̇ 10 s 10 s 10 s 10 s 10 s 10 s 10− s 10− s 10− s

BD 0.42 0.21 0.27 1.04 1.71 0.85 0.77 0.69 1.01

WD 1.22 0.79 0.41 1.36 1.21 0.97 1.33 1.01 0.77

Fig. 12. The schematic diagram of the microstructure when applying the tension along the (a) horizontal and vertical directions

compared to the yield strength of 1070 MPa. Currently, the dominant heating time in the heating furnace will not change the microstructure
factor of the tensile strength mainly comes from γ’/ γ” phases. It is worth and precipitates). When the deformation temperature is close to the
noting that the quantity of γ’/γ” phases in the XOZ and XOY planes were phase transition point, such as 500 ◦ C, 600 ◦ C, and 700 ◦ C, the energy
almost the same. Considering the general inhomogeneity of the additive barrier of the nucleation, migration, and transformation for the pre­
manufacturing component, so it shows a very weak directional depen­ cipitation phase may be reduced due to the external load. Therefore, it is
dence on the macroscopic mechanical properties, which also lays the manifested as the change of flow stress due to the coupling effect of
microstructure basis for the calculation of the J-C model. temperature and strain rate on the macroscopic scale.
Therefore, it is reasonable to use a function F to couple strain rate
and temperature term, which has a high fit degree for both the 400 ◦ C
5.2. The coupled effects of the temperature and strain rate
condition with weak strain rate dependence and the ~500 ◦ C conditions
with strong strain rate dependence. Meanwhile, thanks to the isotropic
As for the tensile property under elevated temperature, when the
mechanical properties, the high-temperature flow stress in the hori­
deformation temperature reached 400 ◦ C, which was much lower than
zontal and vertical directions can be simultaneously calculated through
the recrystallization temperature of IN718, the increase of strain rate led
a set of J-C constitutive equations with high prediction accuracy.
to a negligible difference in flow stress but a significant decrease in
elongation, as it resulted from the inadequate dislocation slip and
6. Conclusions
diffusion creeps during higher strain rate and quasi-static loading [51].
At 500 ◦ C and 600 ◦ C conditions, the influence of strain rate on flow
A wall-shaped Inconel-718 specimen was fabricated by Wire Arc
stress was still insignificant, and its effect on flow stress was not
Additive Manufacturing. A modified heat treatment (MHT) was applied
monotonic. Therefore, it was inappropriate to describe this irregular
to eliminate the anisotropy of the as-deposited sample, as well as to
change by linear fitting.
increase its strength. Subsequently, tensile tests of MHT- IN718 alloy at
The stress softening behavior caused by temperature was clear, as
temperatures of 400– 600 ◦ C with strain rates of 10− 4– 10− 2 s− 1 were
seen in Fig. 2(b), which was most evident at 700 ◦ C. At this temperature,
conducted. The following conclusions can be drawn based on this study.
the material experienced simultaneous work hardening and dynamic
recovery during deformation, resulting in reduced deformation resis­
(i) As-deposited IN718 material possesses a typical columnar grain
tance. Also, as the γ” phase was actually a metastable phase, they can
structure along the build direction. Slight anisotropic properties
transform into a stable δ phase if the alloy was exposed to to tempera­
were observed on the fabricated WAAM component.
tures higher than 650 ◦ C for a long holding time, results in a decrease in
(ii) A modified heat treatment successfully increased the UTS and YS
strength and plastic. In addition, the possible fiber texture observed in
of the wall-shaped component, as well as eliminated the aniso­
EBSD maps of MHT material may have contributed to the absence of
tropic mechanical properties. The mechanisms of the isotropic
dynamic strain aging behavior [52]. That is why the serrations in the
properties with the presence of heterogeneous grain structure are
stress-strain curves is absent at 700 ◦ C.
ascribed to the massive fine dispersed γ′ /γ′′ particles.
Based on the above analysis, it is difficult to fit the data with the
(iii) A modified Johnson-Cook model was established, which con­
classical J-C model. Despite some reports indicated that the IN718 alloy
siders the irregular strain hardening portion of the classical J-C
performs a temperature and strain rate-independent mode at high strain
model and the coupled effects of the temperature and strain rate
rates [20]. However, the strain rates used in this study ranged from 10− 4
on the flow behaviors. The maximum average absolute error in
s− 1 to 10− 2 s- 1, i.e., the time from applying load to fracture is about
predicting flow stress is only 1.71%.
13s~1847s. The low strain rate means a longer loading time (the static

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N. Xi et al. Journal of Manufacturing Processes 75 (2022) 1134–1143

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