Laser melting functionally graded composition of Waspaloy® and zirconia powders.

An approach for fabricating functionally graded specimens of supernickel alloy and ceramic compositions via Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is presented. The focus aimed at using the Functionally Graded Material (FGM) concept to gradually grade powdered compositions of Zirconia within a base material of Waspaloy®. A high power Nd:YAG laser was used to process the material compositions to a high density with gradual but discrete changes between layered compositions. The graded specimens initially consisted of 100% Waspaloy® with subsequent layers containing increased volume compositions of Zirconia (0-10%). Specimens were examined for porosity and microstructure. It was found that specimens contained an average porosity of 0.34% with a gradual change between layers without any major interface defects.