Improvement in Tribological Properties of Additively Manufactured IN718 Using Low Temperature Lubricated Environments

The capacity of additive manufacturing (AM) to create complicated shapes and minimize material waste has led to its widespread adoption across industries. To fully comprehend the mechanical and microstructural characteristics of metal elements made with AM methods, more investigation is necessary. The tribological behavior of Inconel 718 (IN718) alloy produced through selective laser melting (SLM) was examined in this work under various cooling and lubrication conditions, such as dry, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), nano-MQL, hybrid cryo-MQL, and hybrid cryo-nano-MQL settings, as well as loads of 20, 30, and 40N. Significant tribological parameters were examined, including friction force, volume loss, and specific wear rate. According to the results, under a 40N load, the hybrid cryo-nano-MQL setup greatly improves the tribological performance; it reduced wear depth by 98.8%, friction force by 91.1%, and volume loss by 99.7% when compared to dry conditions. These results demonstrate how sophisticated cooling and lubrication methods can increase the wear resistance of additively fabricated IN718 components.