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Preparation and mechanical properties of selective laser melted H13 steel

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Abstract

Process parameters (laser power and scanning speed) for H13 steel specimens produced by selective laser melting (SLM) are optimized, and microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties are investigated. The optimum process parameters are a laser power of 170 W and a scanning speed of 400 mm/s according to the maximum relative density of 99.2%. The microstructure consists of cellular grains and columnar crystal, which are composed of lath martensite and retained austenite, and there are no carbides or other second-phase particles present. The size of cellular grains is 1 µm. Compared with the common processed (forged and heat-treated) H13, SLM H13 has similar microhardness (561 HV) and tensile strength (1909 MPa) values. However, the elongation (12.4%) is a factor of ∼3 times higher and the impact energy (14.4 J) of the SLM specimen is somewhat lower. The relationship between the microstructure and mechanical properties is discussed. Fine grains and no second-phase precipitation determine the strength and plasticity of SLM samples.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51461025), KUST Lab Research Project (No. SYYJ08), and Science Project of Yunnan Education Committee (2016ZZX044). The authors gratefully appreciate the technical EBSD support received from Xusheng Yang and Xianghui Zhu of the Chongqing University of Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, China

    Bo Ren, Dehong Lu, Rong Zhou, Zhenhua Li & Jieren Guan

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Correspondence to Dehong Lu.

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Ren, B., Lu, D., Zhou, R. et al. Preparation and mechanical properties of selective laser melted H13 steel. Journal of Materials Research 34, 1415–1425 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2019.10

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