Welding in the World (2024) 68:567–577

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-023-01631-2

RESEARCH PAPER

Plasma powder transferred arc additive manufacturing of ((Fe, Ni)‑Al)

intermetallic alloy and resulting properties
Kai Treutler1,2

Received: 3 October 2023 / Accepted: 7 November 2023 / Published online: 23 November 2023
© The Author(s) 2023

Abstract
Intermetallic alloys such as iron aluminides are of increasing interest for high-temperature applications due to their properties.
However, their application potential is restricted by their limited machinability with conventional manufacturing methods
such as milling. Arc-based additive manufacturing offers an approach to produce these materials to final contour or with
very little post-processing. However, the properties of many intermetallic alloys, such as low toughness, require a special
manufacturing process. Using a selected iron-nickel-aluminum intermetallic compound as an example, a possible process,
including a subsidiary heat treatment, for the arc-based additive manufacturing of materials based on brittle intermetallic
materials is presented. This process route could enable the production of structural components. In addition, some basic
mechanical properties that can be achieved in a component are shown proportionally. These properties include initial inves-
tigations into the wear resistance of this kind of compounds. It is shown that these intermetallic compounds have a superior
wear resistance compared to commonly used co-base alloys but have a lower density compared to cobalt-basis alloys.

Keywords Intermetallic alloys · Arc-based additive manufacturing · Wear behavior · Aluminide · Arc-based direct energy
deposition

1 Introduction such as machining. In the field of machining, ultrasonic-

The new demand for energy-efficient processes poses par-
ticular challenges for material development, as new material
systems have to be developed and qualified for increasingly
extreme applications [1]. The focus is shifting to material
groups that were previously considered too difficult to pro-
cess, such as intermetallic alloys, or completely new devel-
opments, such as complex concentrated alloys. In addition to
alloy development, further processing techniques must also
be adapted to these material groups. This applies both to the
manufacturing processes and to the subsequent work steps,
Recommended for publication by Commission II - Arc Welding and
Filler Metals
* Kai Treutler
treutler@isaf.tu-clausthal.de
1
Institute of Welding and Machining, Clausthal University
of Technology, Agricolastr. 2, D‑38678 Clausthal‑Zellerfeld,
Germany
2
Clausthal Centre of Materials Technology, Clausthal
University of Technology, Clausthal‑Zellerfeld, Germany
assisted processes have been developed for this purpose,
with which materials that are difficult to machine can be
processed [2, 3]. However, these are not so efficient enough
to enable the production of workpieces from the solid is
economically possible.
To reduce the required machining for the production of
components, additive manufacturing processes can be used
for the production of near-net-shape semifinished parts. In
addition, these processes offer the possibility of adjust-
ing the microstructure to the challenges of the machining
process through targeted alloy modification of the starting
materials [4].
In this paper, a possible process strategy for the addi-
tive manufacturing of an intermetallic alloy using plasma
powder transferred arc welding (PPTAW) is presented as an
example. A basic microstructural characterization and a clas-
sification of the material in a possible application case, wear
protection, round off these first presented investigations.
Plasma powder transferred arc welding (PPTAW) was
selected as an example of an additive manufacturing process
with a relatively high deposition rate compared to powder
bed processes. In addition, it offers the possibility to adjust

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the composition of the alloy to be processed relatively easily
by mixing powders as filler materials.
The additive manufacturing process based on plasma
powder arc welding belongs to the additive manufacturing
processes of the Direct Energy Deposition (DED) processes
and here to the subgroup of arc-based processes (DED-Arc)
[5–7]. Wires and powders can generally be used as filler
material forms in this subgroup. For the work described
below, powders are used as filler material.
1.1 Aluminides
The development of various aluminides for technical appli-
cations is being pursued for various elements, such as tita-
nium [8] or iron, as these materials have very interesting
technical properties, especially for high-temperature appli-
cations [9–11] or wear protection [12–15]. Vilardell pro-
posed that iron alumides are an alternative for cobalt-base
alloys as binder for carbides in war resistant applications
and they gave an perspective to manufacture iron aluminides
Fig. 1  Section of AlFeNi phase diagram [21]
Fig. 2  Brittle-ductile transition
temperature (BDTT) of different
aluminides [1]
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Welding in the World (2024) 68:567–577
with additive techniques [16]. In addition to these proper-
ties, mixtures of higher contents of aluminum, titanium, and
tungsten also exhibit special properties as hydrogen diffusion
barrier layers [17]. In addition to the iron-nickel aluminides
presented here, work is also being carried out on the addi-
tive manufacture of titanium-based aluminides. [8, 18, 19].
One limiting factor for the use of intermetallic alloys is
the narrow chemical composition of certain phases and some
allotropic phase transformation that can occur.
The phase diagram of the three-component system alu-
minum-iron-nickel [20–22] exhibits a phase that extends
over a wide range of compositions Fig. 1. The composition
range of this B2 phase extends over a much wider range than
the technically interesting phases in the aluminum-iron and
nickel-iron systems.
In addition, this phase does not exhibit allotropic phase
transformation over a larger range. This makes this alloy
interesting for technical use, but intermetallic alloys exhibit
low ductility, which makes defect-free processing difficult
[1, 23, 24]. Figure 2 shows the transition temperature from
ductile to brittle material behavior. This transition can be
significantly reduced by adding various alloying elements,
like boron, tungsten, and molybdenum, and using different
manufacturing processes like rolling or additive manufactur-
ing. The influence of PWHT on the mechanical properties
has been show for iron-aluminides by Shen et al. [25].
The effect of nickel on B2 iron-alumina has already been
investigated for certain additions of nickel up to 10%, and
it was shown that a strengthening of the initial alloy can be
achieved [26, 27].
The current state of research shows that the defect-free
condition, particularly crack-free manufacturing, depends
on two key influencing variables. These are the chemical
composition of the intermetallic alloy, in particular the
addition of other toughness-enhancing elements [28] such
Welding in the World (2024) 68:567–577 569

Table 1  Intended chemical Element

composition of the alloy
(further referred to as AlFeNi) Al B Fe Mo Ni Ti

Desired alloy com- 23 0.0025 35 3 38 1

position in wt.-%
Desired alloy com- 39.1 0.011 28.8 1.4 29.7 1.0
position in at.-%

Table 2  Used powder pre-alloys Table 3  Set point of the welding machine
Pre-alloy— Al Fe-Mo Fe-Ti 60-40 Ni Ni2B 92-8 Welding process Plasma powder transferred arc
wt.% of 30-70 welding (PPTAW)
alloys
Powder feed rate 19 g/min
g used for 322.19 42.86 250.99 378.96 5 Welding current 250 A
1 kg of
Welding voltage 25 V (automated height control)
welding
powder Welding speed 9 cm/min
Weaving width 18 mm
Weaving speed 9 cm/min
Welding gas Argon
as boron, and the temperature control during the manufac-
Pilot arc gas flow 3 l/min
turing process [29]. Assuming that the minimum tempera-
Plasma gas flow 10 l/min
ture that occurs during production is above the transition
Shielding gas flow 4 l/min
temperature between ductile and brittle material behavior,
Layers 42
crack-free production of larger volumes should be possible
Layer height ca. 1 mm
with suitable PWHT.

2 Materials and methods
To determine a possible process strategy for the additive
manufacturing of an intermetallic alloy by plasma powder
transferred arc welding (PPTAW), an alloy was selected
based on a composition for a B2 alloy of aluminum, iron,
and nickel, which has a relatively large distance to the phase
boundaries. The chemical composition of the selected alloy
is shown in Table 1. The addition of small amounts of
molybdenum, titanium, and boron [11] is expected to pro-
vide sufficient toughness for processing in this process strat-
egy. This alloy is further referred to as AlFeNi.
This intended composition was realized by mechanical
alloying of pre-alloys, which are available in powder form
and can also be used as welding filler material. The weld-
ing powder was composed of five different powdered pre-
alloys with grain sizes between 80 and 150 μm, as shown
in Table 2. The pre-alloy powders had a purity of at least
99.5%. The intended chemical composition of the pre-alloy
powders was validated using EDX measurements. The
individually weighed powders were mixed in a tumbling
mixer for 60 min. Once the powders have been mixed in
the powder mixer, a stochastic distribution of the individual
powders to each other is established. This includes a homo-
geneous distribution of the individual pre-alloys over the
powder quantity. This includes the N ­ i2B powder. Due to the
large weld bead in the used process, the limited amount of
grains of the borides compared to the other pre-alloys should
be compensated, and a nearly evenly distribution of boron
should be achieved. The size of the powder grains does not
change significantly.
2.1 Welding set point—thermal management
during welding—manufacturing strategy
A steel sheet with dimensions of 300-mm length and 150-
mm width made of material 1.4301 and a sheet thickness of
10 mm was selected as the substrate for the welding trials.
It was preheated to a temperature of 900 °C in a furnace and
then placed on the welding table ready for processing in the
Hettiger PPTA welding machine. No specific shield gas—
besides the welding-related gases—was used in the furnace
or during welding. The welding process was started when
the sheet reached 600 °C. The interlayer temperature was
kept between 550 and 650 °C during the 42 layers. The used
setting values of the welding machine are shown in Table 3.
Automated height control was used to keep the welding volt-
age at 25 V. The layer height was set to 1 mm in accordance
with preliminary experiments, in which the powder feed rate
was adjusted to achieve this layer height. A weaving pattern
was applied to each layer with a width of 18 mm.

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The welding process was carried out weaving with a feed
rate of 9 cm/min for all directions of movement. The welded
length was 125 mm. Argon was used as the shielding gas.
The welding direction was not varied.
2.2 Post weld heat treatment (PWHT)
After the welding was completed, the sample, directly from
the welding heat, was placed in the furnace and heated to
900 °C. The temperature of the sample was maintained for
60 min, and subsequently, the sample was cooled to 150 °C
in the oven at a rate of −1 K/min. It was then removed from
the furnace and cooled to room temperature in air.
2.3 Metallographic characterization
To characterize the microstructure, samples were taken
from the created specimen using wire-based electric dis-
charge cutting. These were then embedded in a polymer,
abraded, and polished. The final polishing was performed
with a grain size of less than 1 μm in the lapping suspen-
sion. When grinding, care was taken to ensure that the area
affected by cutting was reliably removed. Subsequently, the
samples were etched with V2A etchant. The composition of
the etchant is
• 100 ­cm3 hydrochloric acid, HCl
• 100 ­cm3 water, H2O
• 10 ­cm3 nitric acid, HNO3
• 1 ­cm3 mordant according to Dr. Vogels
The microstructure images were taken after preparation
of the samples with a Leica CTR-6000 reflected light micro-
scope at different magnifications. The detection of the B2
phase was carried out using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD)
model line “Panalytical Empyrean.” Furthermore, investiga-
tions were carried out using a scanning electron microscope
with attached energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Figure 3
schematically shows the locations where the specimens were
taken for the different investigations. The arrows indicate the
side on which the investigation was carried out. Hardness
testing was performed in accordance with ISO 6507 [30].
Fig. 3  Specimen plan
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Welding in the World (2024) 68:567–577
Ten indentations were made to determine the average hard-
ness distributed over the cross-section.
2.4 Wear test—G75 Miller
To obtain a first impression of the wear protection proper-
ties of this alloy system, standard samples for the ASTM
G75 test [31] were taken from the additively manufactured
component by means of electric discharge wire machining.
These were then ground to remove the eroded skin. The test
was carried out in accordance with the standard (ASTM
G75). A sample was moved cyclically under a defined load
of 22.24 N in an abrasive suspension against chloroprene
rubber at a speed of 20 m/min (Fig. 4). This test has also
been used in [32, 33].
3 Experimental results
Figure 5 shows the additively produced material deposit.
The manufacturing of this weld deposit took about 140
min (welding and waiting between the layers to achieve the
interlayer temperature). On the right side of the picture, a
geometric error can be seen at the weld pool run-out. This
builds up due to the always same manufacturing direction
at the end of each welding level. The surface of the mate-
rial deposit becomes more uneven with increasing material
height. However, the top layer has a smooth surface.
There are no cracks in the material sample visible. Cracks
were not found during the cutting of the specimen, prepara-
tion of the specimens, or in the microstructure analysis, so
the first impression of the potential absence of cracks in the
intermetallic alloy remained confirmed. Thus, the selected
manufacturing strategy for the initial composition can be
used as a basis for further adjustments to the process as well
as the chemical composition.
3.1 Chemical composition and phase morphology
The achieved chemical composition is shown in Table 4 in
comparison to the intended composition. Two methods were
used to determine the composition. First, energy-dispersive
Welding in the World (2024) 68:567–577 571

Fig. 4  ASTM G75 “Miller”

test [32]

Table 4  Intended chemical composition in comparison with the achieved composition

Element
Al B Cr Fe Mo Nb Ni Ti V

Desired alloy composition in wt.% 23 0.0025 - 35 3 - 38 1 -

Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) in wt.% 17.83 - - 38.91 2.75 - 39.72 0.79 -
X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XFA) in wt.% 19.72 < 0.005 0.034 Bal. 2.525 0.022 39.29 0.97 0.019

X-ray spectroscopy analysis was performed with a scanning

electron microscope to analyze the area in the center of the
material deposit, and second, X-ray fluorescence analysis
was performed on the cross-section of the sample.
It is evident that the chemical addition due to the weld-
ing process and the subsequent heat treatment deviates only
slightly from the target. A significant burn-off of material on
the order of 3–5 wt.% can only be observed for aluminum.
In small quantities, burn-off can also be observed for the
additional alloying elements titanium and molybdenum. The
burn-up of aluminum should not change the basic structure
of the material out of the B2 phase. It shifts the point in
the trimaterial system AlFeNi (Fig. 1) towards the y + B2
region. The detection of boron in the alloy could not be car-
ried out with the selected measuring methods due to the Fig. 5  Achieved additive manufactured material sample after PWHT
low admixture. Figure 6 shows the desired and the achieved
chemical composition in the given ternary system. Here, the
burn-off of aluminum is visible.
The determination of the lattice structure by XRD analy-
sis also shows a basic structure of a B2 phase, Fig. 7.
Table 5 shows the lattice parameters and LRO calculated
for the material. The calculations were carried out accord-
ing to [34, 35].

3.2 Microstructure

The analysis of the microstructure is divided into two parts

in this work. The first deals with the additively manufactured
material, and the second deals with the microstructure in Fig. 6  Section of AlFeNi phase diagram with achieved alloy compo-
sition indicated in green and desired alloy system in red [21].

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Table 5  Lattice parameter (a) and long-range order parameters (L)
calculated from X-ray diffraction data
a in pm (I100/I110)sample (I100/I110)Standarda
293–294 0.133 0.17686
a
Standard values have been taken from [35]
the dilution zone between the substrate and the additively
manufactured material.
Figure 8 shows the additively manufactured material
together with the dilution zone and base material at ×12.5
magnification after etching with V2A etchant. The base
material can be seen in the lower part of the picture. This is
divided into two areas. The first area at the bottom shows the
thermally unaffected base material. The second area above
shows a zone with strong grain growth, in which the grains
also align equixially to each other and perpendicularly to the
direction of manufacturing layer by layer. This phenomenon
is known from various other materials and investigations
that the main grain orientation forms parallel to the heat
dissipation. This is also found in the heat-affected zone of
the welds. Above the base material is the melt line with
the zone of dilution between the base material and the filler
material above it. The chemical composition of this zone
differs depending on the layer. After a certain number of
layers (typically 3–4), the dilution is then reduced to such an
extent that one can speak of “pure” additively manufactured
material.
The “pure” additively manufactured material has a homo-
geneous microstructure with slightly anisotropic grains with
main extension in the direction of heat conduction (Fig. 9).
On the grain boundaries, there are finely distributed small
precipitates (Fig. 10). It is assumed that molybdenum- and
titanium-rich phases precipitate on the grain boundaries.
As stated earlier, there is no second phase in the XRD
pattern, even though it is clearly visible in the cross-section.
Fig. 7  XRD pattern of the additive manufactured AlFeNi alloy
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Welding in the World (2024) 68:567–577
L
0.87
Fig. 8  Cross-section of additive manufactured AlFeNi + B alloy,
dilution zone, and base material
This may, under certain circumstances, be due to the low
volume content of the second phase, similarity of the crystal
structure or small size of precipitates. It can be assumed that
the formation of the second phases counteracts anisotropic
grain growth and thus contributes to an increase in tough-
ness, as also occurs in other alloys [36].
Figure 11 shows the precipitates in an image taken with
the scanning electron microscope. As already shown, pre-
cipitates form on the grain boundaries. It can be assumed
that these precipitates prevent grain growth during the appli-
cation of further additive manufacturing layers. Figure 11
also shows the points at which the chemical composition
of the precipitates was determined using energy-dispersive
X-ray spectroscopy.
The chemical composition of the precipitates is shown in
Table 6. The amount of boron was below the detection range
of the used equipment. Compared to the intended chemi-
cal composition of the alloy, all measuring points show
increased contents of molybdenum and titanium. The larger
precipitates measured (points 1–3) consist almost exclu-
sively of titanium, iron, and molybdenum. The distribution
Welding in the World (2024) 68:567–577 573

the investigations, no more in-depth determinations of the

composition of the matrix and the precipitates were carried
out here. In the case of using intermetallic alloys as wear
protection materials, this investigation must be carried out.
Furthermore, small microcracks or microcavities can be
seen. This indicates a very brittle transition zone.

3.3 Hardness, wear behavior, and density

The sample has a hardness of 453 HV10 in cross-section in

Fig. 9  Microstructure FeNiAl + B additively manufactured material
­mm3 at the end of the standard test (Fig. 15). Compared to
the additive manufactured intermetallic alloy. High hard-
ness suggests good wear resistance in three-body abrasive
wear. To determine the wear rate in ­mm3, the density of
the material was first determined with the aid of a pycnom-
eter to convert the gravimetric measured loss of material
into a volumetric loss. The density determined was 6.36 g/
cm3. The wear removal in the ASTM G75 test was 77.72
two conventional wear-resistant coatings also produced by
plasma powder cladding—a Stellite 6 and a Stellite 12—
the AlFeNi exhibits lower wear loss and thus improved
wear resistance.
Compared to other newly developed alloy systems of the
complex-concentrated alloy class, the aluminide alloy also
shows a significantly increased wear resistance. The good
wear properties give hope that this group of iron-nickel alu-
minides can establish itself as an alternative to the cobalt-
based alloys used to date.

Fig. 10  Microstructure of FeNiAl + B additive manufactured mate-

rial 4 Discussion

The aim of the work presented was to show a possible way

of the individual elements is also shown in Fig. 12. The
areas rich in molybdenum, iron, and titanium are clearly
visible. It is also clear that the precipitates do not contain
any aluminum or nickel.
A two-phase structure also occurs in the dilution zone.
Larger precipitates can be seen on the grain boundary of
the matrix (Fig. 13). A larger magnification (Fig. 14) also
shows a large number of precipitates within the grains of
the matrix. Since the transition zone was not the target of
of producing the normally very brittle intermetallic alloys
based on aluminum and iron and/or nickel (also known
as aluminides) “crack free” using an arc-based additive
manufacturing process. The results show that this is pos-
sible, even if microcracks are present in certain areas of the
additively manufactured simple structure, in particular the
zone of mixing between the substrate plate and the selected
alloy approach. The desired basic chemical composition
could also be achieved based on blended initial powders.

Table 6  Chemical composition Element at.-%

of the precipitates (EDX)
Al Si Ti Fe Ni Mo

EDX 1 - - 11.51 28.38 2.97 57.14

EDX 2 - - 11.91 31.4 - 56.69
EDX 3 - - 12.11 32.05 - 55.84
EDX 4 18.89 3.14 1.62 45.21 13.64 17.50
EDX 5 33.80 1.33 1.33 34.14 25.87 4.87
EDX 6 33.43 - 1.53 38.00 20.67 6.37

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Fig. 13  Microstructure dilution zone

Fig. 11  SEM image of the precipitates

Small deviations from the intended alloy composition due

to alloy element burn-off were to be expected. This can be
compensated in further investigations by over-alloying the
starting powder. Nevertheless, the intended phase B2 was
achieved. The intended formation of a second phase was
achieved. This should lead to an increased toughness of the
alloy—which needs to be proven in further work. Thus, the
presented work is in line with the work on other aluminides,
which were produced additively by various processes. This
includes titanium aluminides [38] as well as iron aluminides
[16, 29]. In particular, iron and nickel aluminides are being
increasingly focused on as binders for wear resistance clad- Fig. 14  Microstructure dilution zone, magnification ×500
dings and additive manufactured parts [15, 16, 24]. This
approach is also confirmed by the positive properties under of the measured characteristic quantities, the hardness, this
wear attack from this work. behavior is not fully comprehensible, as the average hard-
In this context, the wear resistance of the AlFeNi alloy ness of the Stellites is higher than that of the AlFeNi alloy.
exceeds that of conventionally used Stellites. Due to one

Fig. 12  Distribution of elements

in the precipitates

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Fig. 15  Loss in ­mm3 for G75 140
“Miller” test in comparison to
standard (Stellites [37]) and 120
modern alloys (complex con- 100
Loss in mm³
centrated alloys [33])
80
60
40
20
0
CrCoFeMoNi CrCoFeMoNi
+ VC addi ve + VC cast
However, wear resistance cannot be reduced to hardness
alone as a reference value. In general, wear resistance is a
system variable in which several factors, such as the tribo-
logical system and other variables such as the modulus of
elasticity, have an immense influence [39, 40]. Therefore,
the further investigation of this alloy system is necessary
to clarify the basic mechanism. Here, especially, the deter-
mination of mechanical properties is the next step.
The resulting microstructure can be easily classified
in the state of the art based on the measured lattice con-
stants. The measured constants are comparable to those of
similar alloys with the same phase—which were produced
by different manufacturing processes—and deviate only
slightly [35, 41–43]. The deviations can be explained by
the different alloy compositions, the presence of the sec-
ond phase, and the corresponding measurement inaccura-
cies and methods.
Overall, the presented method is suitable to achieve an
initial processing route for such kind of alloys to perform
further test and doing alloy and process optimization for
arc-based additive manufacturing of iron nickel aluminides.
5 Conclusion
In the presented work, a method was shown for how a
B2-phase intermetallic alloy can be produced on the basis
of the AlFeNi system. In addition to a slight adjustment of
the alloy composition by adding the elements boron, molyb-
denum, and titanium to increase the toughness, a possible
process and thermal management strategy were presented,
which, according to the presented findings, enables crack-
free additive manufacturing of the alloy. The main conclu-
sions of this work are as follows:
• A process strategy with high preheating or interlayer tem-
perature followed by heat treatment in the furnace ena-
bles crack-free additive processing with plasma powder
welding.
575
Stellite 6 Stellite 12 AlFeNi
• The produced alloy consists of mainly B2 phase with
small amounts of a precipitated secondary phase on the
grain boundaries.
• The alloy has a hardness of approx. 450 HV10.
• The alloy exhibits comparable if not improved wear
resistance in three-body abrasive wear compared to
conventional wear protection alloys.
Further work will include the identification of the other
phases that occur, the determination of the mechanical
properties including the brittle-ductile transition tempera-
ture (BDTT), and the effect of an increased alloy content
of aluminum to compensate for the burn-off. Furthermore,
to determine the effect of the boron, addition experiments
with higher boron contents have to be done. Overall, the
results are promising in two directions: first, in wear pro-
tection and second, for additive manufacturing. In wear
protection, these alloys may be able to replace cobalt-
based alloys with comparable wear protection properties,
thereby reducing the use of this strategically valuable
resource. In the field of additive manufacturing, these
alloys could have a lower tendency to oxidize at elevated
temperatures than conventional iron aluminides. This
would allow the use of aluminides with high iron content
at higher temperatures.
However, the basis for both approaches is the provision
of a manufacturing strategy such as that introduced in this
paper.
Funding Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt
DEAL. Funded by the “Top Research for Lower Saxony” (Spitzen-
forschung für Niedersachsen) program of the Lower Saxony Ministry
of Science and Culture.
Data availability The datasets used and/or analyzed during the cur-
rent study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable
request.
Declarations
Conflict of interest The authors declare no competing interests.
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576
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