Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference 2019

There is an increasing trend in terms of utilization of Aluminium parts produced through high pressure die casting (HPDC) for parts with increased complexity in design and size, especially for the automotive industry, driven by the weight saving philosophy. This places increased demands on the performance of the tool steels utilized for HPDC. Besides the development of new tool steels to fulfil these demands, innovative solutions such as utilization of inserts/ sections produced through Additive Manufacturing (AM) to obtain improved thermal management, aluminium part quality and die-life are being explored. In this regard, the possibility of utilization of the well-established X40CrMoV5-1 type materials conventionally used in such application is being explored. In the current study, the development of process parameters and the subsequent post treatment of a X35CrMoV5-2 powder are discussed. The heat treatment response and the mechanical properties consequently obtained are presented. Furthermore, the performance of the alloy in terms of application specific properties such as thermal fatigue and soldering resistance is evaluated. These properties of the AM tool steel are compared to those of the traditional tool steels used for HPDC. The robustness of the alloy in terms of stability during the printing process is also discussed. The results obtained suggest that the X35CrMoV5-2 tool steel exhibits excellent potential for being utilized in HPDC applications.