Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference 2018

Additive manufacturing is becoming more common as a manufacturing technique, but the technology is still rather new. The development of AM powder is still at an early stage and the amount of grades tailor made for additive manufacturing is limited. Most AM grades on the market are atomized standard grades and not designed for AM. This study presents what the important factors are when selecting a powder for additive manufacturing as well as the influence on quality if the powder criteria’s are not met. Several AM powders from various suppliers were evaluated based on their purity and physical characteristics using digital image analysis techniques and advanced electron microscopy. The effect of such powder aspects was further evaluated on the properties of AM produced specimens. For the latter, light interferometry and cyclic polarization techniques were implemented in order to evaluate defect density and corrosion behaviour. The results show the link between powder quality and the properties of the AM specimens. Keywords Tool steels, precipitation hardening steels, polishability, corrosion resistance, wear, microstructure development, Additive Manufacturing (AM), AM process parameters, heat treatment