Surface treatment of additive manufactured AISI H13 tool steel produced by selective laser melting

Abstract

The additive manufacturing process called Selective Laser Melting (SLM) uses energy from a laser to melt the metal powder layer and form parts with complex geometries layer by layer. Porosity and cracks tend to occur even if the process is performed with optimal parameters aiming to obtain high densification and defect-free parts, as the as-printed parts do not have the surface finish quality that is requested for applications such as molds and dies. In these cases, surface treatments must be carried out after printing to achieve the roughness levels required by the application. This project aims to perform the surface treatment of additive manufactured AISI H13 tool steel, aiming to obtain better surface quality for application as polymer injection mold. Samples of AISI H13 steel previously manufactured by SLM will be subjected to various surface treatments, including sandblasting, electrochemical polishing, and laser reeling. The surface roughness of the treated samples will be characterized by profilometry. Other characterization techniques, such as hardness and optical and scanning microscopy, will be applied to evaluate the effect of the surface treatments on the roughness and microstructure of the AISI H13 tool steel manufactured by SLM.(AU)