| Abstract Scope |
Technical advancements of the prior century in the manufacture and performance of high temperature metals have been driven by scientific progress in the areas of casting, powder processing, and alloy design. The emergence and maturation of additive manufacturing technologies has opened a plethora of new processing routes for high temperature materials and has begun to enable previously unlockable materials innovations and design opportunities. Additive manufacturing technologies such as electron beam powder bed fusion can be considered to reside at intersection of the traditional fields of welding, powder metallurgy, and casting. Prior knowledge established from these parent fields is instrumental in the development of additive processing, however, additive is at the same time distinctly different due to the complex nature of the thermomechanical process history. Recent efforts in electron beam processing have enabled successful printing of difficult to process systems such as nickel-based superalloys and has opened new opportunities for exploration of refractory systems. Looking forward, additive will make possible the fabrication of components with engineered hierarchical microstructures tailored for in-service optimized performance. |