Abstract
H13 is one of the most used steels for hot work tooling applications like die casting. Binder jet additive manufacturing (BJAM) offers a cost-effective solution to fabricate tools with performance enhancing features like internal cooling channels. While full densification of BJAM H13 has been demonstrated in the literature, the room and high temperature tensile properties of the material, and the effect of post-process treatments like hot isostatic pressing (HIP), and heat treatment (HT) are unknown. Here we use HIP+HT to obtain a combination of ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation to failure that is superior to H13 fabricated via laser powder bed fusion and wire arc additive manufacturing. HIP+HT BJAM H13 has a superior UTS (1836 MPa) compared with conventionally processed (1671 MPa) H13 but has lower plastic elongation. We report that as-sintered samples have an extensive network of continuous grain boundary (GB) carbides that contribute to brittle fracture. HIP+HT results in partial dissolution of GB carbides and formation of a fine martensitic microstructure resulting in superior tensile strength and elongation compared with as-sintered H13. We use thermo-kinetic calculations to rationalize the effects of HIP+HT on microstructure and properties.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2577-2585 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of Materials Research and Technology |
| Volume | 37 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1 2025 |
Funding
PN would like to acknowledge Chad Beamer, Quintus Technologies Inc. for conducting the HIP cycle for this work and Gerry Knapp, ORNL for his insightful comments on the manuscript. KU acknowledges S. Reeves, T. Dixon, and J. Baxter so assistance with TEM sample preparation. Research was performed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Microscopy was performed using instrumentation (FEI Talos F200X S/TEM) provided by the Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle R&D Program, and the Nuclear Science User Facilities. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. Research was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office, and Vehicle Technologies Office Propulsion Materials Core Program. Notice of Copyright: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).
Keywords
- Additive manufacturing
- Binder jet
- H13 tool steel
- Microstructure
- Tensile behavior