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Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of 17-4 Precipitation Hardenable Steel Processed by Selective Laser Melting

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Abstract

The mechanical behavior and the microstructural evolution of 17-4 precipitation hardenable (PH) stainless steel processed using selective laser melting have been studied. Test coupons were produced from 17-4 PH stainless steel powder in argon and nitrogen atmospheres. Characterization studies were carried out using mechanical testing, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The results show that post-process heat treatment is required to obtain typically desired tensile properties. Columnar grains of smaller diameters (<2 µm) emerged within the melt pool with a mixture of martensite and retained austenite phases. It was found that the phase content of the samples is greatly influenced by the powder chemistry, processing environment, and grain diameter.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Office of Naval Research for support through Grant Numbers N00014‐09‐1‐0147 and N00014‐10‐1‐0800.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. J.B Speed School of Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    H. Khalid Rafi, Deepankar Pal, Nachiket Patil, Thomas L. Starr & Brent E. Stucker

  2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    H. Khalid Rafi

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Correspondence to H. Khalid Rafi.

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Rafi, H.K., Pal, D., Patil, N. et al. Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of 17-4 Precipitation Hardenable Steel Processed by Selective Laser Melting. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 23, 4421–4428 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-014-1226-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-014-1226-y

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