Influence of Cell Structure on Yield Strength and Strain‐Hardening Behavior in Additively Manufactured H13 Hot Work Tool Steel

Mechanical properties including yield strength, hardness, and strain hardening are superior in additively manufactured H13 hot work tool steel (AMH) compared to conventional H13 (CMH), which are correlated with microstructural characteristics. Comprehensive microstructural analysis reveals that the strain is highly localized in the cell structure with retained austenite in AMH. Quenching and tempering (QT) heat treatment removes the cell structure and retains austenite from AMH, resulting in a microstructure and mechanical properties similar to CMH after QT. The constitutive equation for yield strength shows that retained austenite with sufficient amount of dislocation density in martensite contributes to higher yield strength in AMH than CMH and identical strengthening mechanism between AMH and CMH after QT. Furthermore, microstructural changes during plastic deformation are investigated to find the origin of high strain‐hardening rate in AMH. The relationship between hardness and indentation depth yields the higher statistically stored dislocation density in AMH than CMH. In addition to higher dislocation accumulation, transformation of retained austenite to α′ martensite results in transformation‐induced plasticity effect, which contributes to strain hardening.