Laser additive manufacturing of steels

ABSTRACT

Despite strong interest from many industrial sectors driving demand and advancements in laser additive manufacturing (LAM) of steels, some issues remain as barriers limiting the current industrial applications, such as defects, residual stress, scattered, inadequate or/and anisotropic properties. To overcome these problems, several effective approaches have been developed to control and/or enhance the properties of LAM produced steel components. To help researchers and engineers attain up-to-date information and knowledge in this rapidly growing area, the present work provides an overview of current research in LAM of steels, in particular austenitic steels, ferritic steels, duplex steels and martensitic steels, with a focus on understanding the interrelation between process, microstructure and mechanical properties. This review also includes substantive discussions on the effects of processing parameters, their interactions and post-LAM treatments on the metallurgy, microstructure and properties. In addition, the advances, ongoing challenges and outlooks in LAM of steels are highlighted.

KEYWORDS:

• Laser additive manufacturing
• powder bed fusion
• direct laser deposition
• steels
• process
• metallurgical mechanisms
• microstructure
• mechanical properties

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors are very grateful to Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project for funding support [grant number DP210103162]. Yu Yin would like to acknowledge the support from the China Scholarship Council (CSC), the University of Queensland (UQ) and the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering for the CSC and UQI scholarship.