Laser scan-path-driven texture selection and sharpening in PBF-LB/M of Inconel 625

Crystallographic texture in powder bed fusion by laser beam melting (PBF-LB/M) strongly influences the anisotropic mechanical response of metallic components. However, for Inconel 625 (IN625), it remains insufficiently understood how laser scan-path design governs not only the selection of the dominant texture component, but also the extent to which this component sharpens during solidification. In particular, the respective roles of scan angle, melt-pool geometry, remelting continuity, and scan-vector length (SVL) remain only partially separated in the literature. To address this issue, the present work investigates the influence of laser scan-path design on melt-pool morphology, crystallographic texture, and the resulting mechanical response in PBF-LB/M IN625 through a combined analysis of melt-pool geometry, electron backscatter diffraction, and tensile behaviour. The results show that scan angle primarily controls texture selection along the scanning direction, with dominant ⟨111⟩ and ⟨001⟩ components obtained for 𝛼 = 35◦ and 𝛼 = 90◦, respectively, whereas melt-pool geometry and remelting continuity govern texture sharpening. Conditions combining higher overlap (up to 69%), flatter melt-pool bottom profiles, and more continuous remelting produced the strongest textures, with texture indices up to 𝐽 = 10, while more curved melt-pool geometries and larger effective non-remelted regions promoted competing grain growth and weaker sharpening. ... mehrShort SVL introduced a distinct band-filling thermal regime that further modified competitive epitaxial growth independently of nominal energy input, increasing the texture index from 𝐽 = 3.4 at SVL = 0.5 mm to 𝐽 = 6.0 at SVL = 1.0 mm. These scan-induced texture states translated into measurable mechanical differences along the scanning direction: the ⟨111⟩ dominated condition reached a UTS of ∼910 MPa with 24.5% elongation, compared with ∼769 MPa and 16.0% for the ⟨001⟩ dominated condition. Overall, this work establishes a transferable process–melt-pool–texture–property framework showing that laser scan-path design can be used as a practical lever for crystallographic texture control in PBF-LB/M alloys.