Residual Stress Modeling and Mechanical Characterization of Additively Manufactured Superalloys

The National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL's) record of success has been built on understanding the future of energy and the technologies required to make that future possible. We’ve long touted our success in developing the technologies that took on acid rain in the 1970s and mercury in the early 2000s. More recently, NETL has a leading role in President Biden’s ambitious climate goals, including a carbon emission-free power sector by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050.

Program Goals

The Professional Internship Program is designed to introduce undergraduate students and recent Bachelor's graduates to the challenges of conducting energy research, and enable graduate students to further build off their studies an experience as they join the scientific community. Participants interact daily with assigned mentors who guide research and project activities during the internship, while they become integral members of project teams.

The program goals include providing the opportunity to participants to:

• Develop skills and knowledge in their field of study
• Engage with new areas of basic and applied research
• Transition classroom theory into hands-on experience
• Network with world-class scientists
• Exchange ideas and skills with the Laboratory community
• Use state-of-the-art equipment
• Contribute to answers for today's pressing scientific questions
• Collaborate with the broader scientific and technical communities

Project Details

Through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), this posting seeks a recent Bachelor's graduate or student researcher to engage in projects with the Research Innovation Center (RIC) at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in the area of Advanced Materials Development, under the mentorship of Chantal Sudbrack. This project will be hosted at the NETL Albany, OR campus.

Additive manufacturing (AM), particularly laser powder-bed fusion (L-PBF), shows great promise in fabricating high-temperature load-bearing parts with complex geometries for advanced energy applications, such as for turbine engines. Ni-based superalloys are used in some of the most demanding applications in turbine engines, including airfoils, fuel injectors, vanes, and other components with complex geometries. The native surface roughness resulting from L-PBF processing can impact the mechanical performance of these components. Utilizing ANSYS FEM modeling, the project seeks to simulate stress distributions of specific lab-scale build articles from various Ni-based superalloys with complex features of the L-PBF components of interest. These predications will be compared with experimental measurements gathered. This project also seek to help understand the effect of geometry and surface roughness on the fatigue performance of several L-PBF Ni-based superalloys through testing and failure analysis.

The objective of the project will be to model the residual stresses of lab-scale articles using ANSYS and support the microstructural characterization and fatigue testing of a set of Ni-base superalloys fabricated by L-PBF additive manufacturing. This project will help support the understanding of the effect of geometry and surface roughness on the mechanical performance. The student researcher will: (a) meet with a mentor to establish a plan, identify tasks, and establish responsibilities; (b) participate in team meetings on a regular basis to monitor progress and present research results; (c) model a set of lab-scale articles using ANSYS; (d) use establish research techniques to test and gather materials related results on the fatigue behavior and other related tests as-needed; and (e) produce a final report with experimental methods used, data, data analysis, and interpretation of research results. The results may be included in a conference presentation or journal article with the student researcher listed as a co-author.

Stipend: Participants receive a biweekly stipend based on their educational level. Stipend payments are taxable as an educational benefit. Stipends for full-time participation start at:

• $450 per week - $620 per week for undergraduate students
• $690 per week - $770 per week for recent Bachelor's graduates
• $690 per week - $1,050 per week for graduate students

Deliverables: To document the effectiveness of the program, participants are required to submit a pre-appointment and post-appointment survey, as well as a reflection on their appointment experience when they renew or end their appointment. The reflection should summarize their project(s), additional activities, and overall experience. Details are provided as the appointment end date approaches.
Participants may also have the opportunity to contribute to manuscripts, journal articles, book chapters, conference presentations, posters, patents, and other publications as a part of their appointment. Such achievements should also be reported to ORISE; additional details are provided after an offer has been accepted.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory system, is owned and operated by the DOE. NETL supports the DOE mission to advance the energy security of the United States. This is an educational opportunity offered by NETL and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. Participants in the program are not considered employees of NETL, DOE, the program administrator, or any other office or agency.