17-4 PH stainless-steel as a material for high resolution laser metal deposition

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a type of manufacturing technologies whereby the material is added a layer upon layer to produce a 3D object. Produced 3D parts are applied in such industry sectors as space, aviation, automotive, building and has excellent future promises. These days, the commercially promised technique for metal manufacturing are laser metal deposition (LMD), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS). Our study concentrated on the investigation of mechanical properties of 17-4 PH stainless-steel parts produced by laser sintering. The effect of the laser sintering process parameters (laser power, scanning speed and energy density) on the ultimate stress, yield stress and Young’s modulus was determined. We showed an evolution of the microstructure. The detected defects were classified. This study allowed to determine optimal process parameters for laser sintering of SS 17-4 PH and to describe mechanical properties of the produced parts as well as helped to show future possibilities of the development of laser sintering technology.