Soft magnetic powder materials are used throughout industries such as motors and power converters. When manufacturing Fe-based soft magnetic composites, the size and shape of the soft magnetic powder and the microstructure in the powder are closely related to the magnetic properties. In this study, Fe-Si-Al-P alloy powders were manufactured using various manufacturing process parameter sets, and the process parameters of the vacuum induction melt gas atomization process were set as melt temperature, atomization gas pressure, and gas flow rate. Process variable data that records are converted into 6 types of data for each powder recovery section. Process variable data that recorded minute changes were converted into 6 types of data and used as input variables. As output variables, a total of 6 types were designated by measuring the particle size, flowability, apparent density, and sphericity of the manufactured powders according to the process variable conditions. The sensitivity of the input and output variables was analyzed through the Pearson correlation coefficient, and a total of 6 powder characteristics were analyzed by artificial neural network model. The prediction results were compared with the results through linear regression analysis and response surface methodology, respectively.

The directed energy deposition (DED) process of metal 3D printing technologies has been treated as an effective method for welding, repairing, and even 3-dimensional building of machinery parts. In this study, stainless steel 316L (STS316L) and Inconel 625 (IN625) alloy powders are additively manufactured using the DED process, and the microstructure of the fabricated STS316L/IN625 sample is investigated. In particular, there are no secondary phases in the interface between STS316L and the IN625 alloy. The EDS and Vickers hardness results clearly show compositionally and mechanically transient layers a few tens of micrometers in thickness. Interestingly, several cracks are only observed in the STS 316L rather than in the IN625 alloy near the interface. In addition, small-sized voids 200–400 nm in diameter that look like trapped pores are present in both materials. The cracks present near the interface are formed by tensile stress in STS316L caused by the difference in the CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) between the two materials during the DED process. These results can provide fundamental information for the fabrication of machinery parts that require joining of two materials, such as valves.