Abstract
In this study, the manufacturability of new types of steel-steel composites on an open-architecture laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) system is demonstrated. A hard martensitic stainless tool steel 440C and a soft austenitic stainless steel 316L are combined in a “multi-material” component with discrete and continuous material gradients. Interface engineering is accomplished through a heat treatment to induce phase transformation. A designed distribution of carbides/carbonitrides and local martensitic transformation lead to controllable variations in hardness. Hence, the compositionally-graded component is converted into a functionally-graded composite. The concept showcases the potential for selectively engineering the properties of steel-steel additively manufactured composites.
Highlights
Additive manufacturing (AM) lends increased design freedom for producing unique functional geometries [1]
While multi-material AM has been extensively studied in samples produced by directed energy deposition (DED) [4,5,6], research on multiple metallic materials using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is comparatively limited [7]
The rough top layer affects that the material composition along the build direction and creates a variability determined by two factors, namely the programmed dosing and the surface roughness
Summary
Additive manufacturing (AM) lends increased design freedom for producing unique functional geometries [1]. As a selective consolidation process, AM offers flexibility in functionally graded materials (FGMs) [2,3]. While multi-material AM has been extensively studied in samples produced by directed energy deposition (DED) [4,5,6], research on multiple metallic materials using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is comparatively limited [7]. Compared to DED, the primary drawback of multi-material LPBF is the mixed unmelted powder, which requires precise composition analysis and powder separation prior to reuse. The superior spatial resolution of LPBF makes it an attractive technology to produce FGMs. In previous work [8], an open-architecture LPBF system was used to demonstrate a multi-material 316L-MS1 steel-steel graded component with a single transitioning interface. A different combination of steels is studied, which includes the 316L and high-carbon 440C steels
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