2 GPa H13 steels fabricated by laser powder bed fusion and tempering: Microstructure, tensile property and strengthening mechanism

The successful manufacture of crack-free and highly dense H13 tool steel using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) has been widely reported. Although the phases contain only martensite and some (<20 %) of residual austenite (RA), the differences in tensile properties are very large in previous studies. Here, the microstructure and tensile properties of the LPBF-fabricated H13 steels with different heat treatments were comparatively studied. Tensile strengths ranged ∼2.0–2.2 GPa for the optimal as-built and direct-tempered samples. By increasing the heat input, the RA content was reduced to 0.1 % and the microstructure contained only hierarchically fine martensite with improved tensile properties and anisotropy. Based on the full-martensitic microstructure in the optimal as-built samples, secondary hardening was achieved by direct tempering at 530–590 °C with tensile strengths of ∼2.1–2.2 GPa and improved elongations (4.93–6.43 %). The optimal direct-tempered samples yielded higher tensile strengths compared to the standard heat-treated counterparts. For the direct-tempered samples, the substantial retaining of the fine martensitic structure and high density of dislocations introduced by LPBF was the key to the excellent properties rather than the precipitates. This work elucidated the effect of the LPBF process, direct tempering, and standard heat treatment on the tensile property of H13 steel. It is concluded that process optimization for LPBF fabrication of H13 steel requires not only defect avoidance but also fine martensite and low-content RA. On this base, the LPBF-prepared H13 steel can be directly tempered to further obtain components with excellent tensile properties, which are superior to the standard heat-treated counterparts.