Resistance spot welding of additively manufactured maraging steels Part II: Failure behavior

Application of maraging steels via selective laser melting process in the automotive industry was unavoidably involved in the resistance spot welding with conventional steels. Due to the rapid cooling rate of welding process, selective laser melted maraging steels with unique chemical components and stack microstructure could induced the different microstructural evolution, resulting in the complicated fracture behavior in the spot welds. This paper developed a FEA model to predict the fracture mode of spot welds of DP600 to maraging steel and the effect of test conditions and printing orientations were studied. A method was proposed to calculate the material properties of fusion zone by introducing the combined effect of melting DP600 and maraging steels via selective laser melting, resulting in the accurate prediction of fracture mode and strength of spot welds. An interlayer with lower strength was found around the fusion zone and the fracture path propagated in the region, resulting in the partial interfacial failure of spot welds. Meanwhile, the printing orientation had no significant effect on the fracture mode and strength of spot welds, but the different material properties of maraging steels could affect the fracture displacement of spot welds. These findings could pave a way to guide the application of maraging steels via selective laser melting process in multiple industries, especially in the automotive industry.

Porosity, cracks, and mechanical properties of additively manufactured tooling alloys: a review

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are currently employed for the manufacturing of completely functional parts and have gained the attention of high-technology industries such as the aerospace, automotive, and biomedical fields. This is mainly due to their advantages in terms of low material waste and high productivity, particularly owing to the flexibility in the geometries that can be generated. In the tooling industry, specifically the manufacturing of dies and molds, AM technologies enable the generation of complex shapes, internal cooling channels, the repair of damaged dies and molds, and an improved performance of dies and molds employing multiple AM materials. In the present paper, a review of AM processes and materials applied in the tooling industry for the generation of dies and molds is addressed. AM technologies used for tooling applications and the characteristics of the materials employed in this industry are first presented. In addition, the most relevant state-of-the-art approaches are analyzed with respect to the process parameters and microstructural and mechanical properties in the processing of high-performance tooling materials used in AM processes. Concretely, studies on the AM of ferrous (maraging steels and H13 steel alloy) and non-ferrous (stellite alloys and WC alloys) tooling alloys are also analyzed.

Cutting forces when grinding parts from martensite aging steels with highporous abrasive, borazon and diamond wheels

Object of research. The article investigates the cutting forces when grinding martensitic-aging steels with highly porous grinding wheels. The problem to be solved is the regularities of the change in the magnitude of the cutting forces when grinding maraging steels with highly porous CBN wheels. Main scientific results. The studies were performed on martensiticaging steel H8K18M14. As a result of the experiments, it was found that when grinding wheels made of materials such as electrocorundum, CBN (borazon) and diamond, a significant role is played by the values of the cutting force, which increase during processing. During the experiment it was found out: the cutting forces Py and Pz in the width of the allowable modes, which are most often used in circular and flat grinding, can reach the following values: with the structure of the wheel 26 come to values from 2.714N to 30.721 and with the structure of the wheel 40 come to values from 2.49N to 28.185N. Reducing the grain size of the wheel, let’s obtain the effect of increasing the energy costs of the grinding process, by increasing the magnitude of the cutting forces. If to compare the cutting forces that occur when grinding different wheels, it is possible to note the following: in comparison with electrocorundum wheels when using wheels with KNB cutting forces are reduced by 20-25 %, and when grinding with diamond wheels, the effect of cutting forces is reduced by 25 - 30 %. When grinding with highly porous wheels, the cutting force is 15-20 % higher than when grinding with wheels of normal porosity. The area of practical use of research results-grinding technology for maraging steels. Innovative technological product – relationship between processing modes and the magnitude of cutting forces when grinding maraging steels. Scope of application of an innovative technological product-mechanical engineering technology

Heat treatment effect on fatigue behavior of 3D-printed maraging steels

Purpose This study aims to reveal that fatigue life is improved using heat treatment in the rotational bending fatigue test, which determines the fatigue behavior closest to service conditions. Design/methodology/approach It is essential to know the mechanical behavior of the parts produced by additive manufacturing under service conditions. In general, axial stress and plane bending tests are used by many researchers because they are practical: the service conditions cannot be sufficiently stimulated. For this reason, the rotating bending fatigue test, which represents the conditions closest to the service conditions of a load-bearing machine element, was chosen for the study. In this study, the rotational bending fatigue behavior of X3NiCoMoTi18-9–5 (MS1) maraging steel specimens produced by the selective laser melting (SLM) technique was experimentally investigated under various heat treatments conditions. Findings As a result of the study, MS1 produced by additive manufacturing is a material suitable for heat treatment that has enabled the heat treatment to affect fatigue strength positively. Cracks generally initiate from the outer surface of the sample. Fabrication defects have been determined to cause all cracks on the sample surface or regions close to the surface. Research limitations/implications While producing the test sample, printing was vertical to the print bed, and various heat treatments were applied. The rotating bending fatigue test was performed on four sample groups comprising as-fabricated, age-treated, solution-treated and solution + age-treated conditions. Originality/value Most literature studies have focused on the axial fatigue strength, printing orientation and heat treatment of maraging steels produced with Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS); many studies have also investigated crack propagation behaviors. There are few studies in the literature covering conditions of rotating bending fatigue. However, the rotating bending loading state is the service condition closest to modern machine element operating conditions. To fill this gap in the literature, the rotating bending fatigue behavior of the alloy, which was maraging steel (X3NiCoMoTi18-9–5, 1.2709) produced by SLM, was investigated under a variety of heat treatment conditions in this study.

Oxidation Behavior of Maraging 300 Alloy Exposed to Nitrogen/Water Vapor Atmosphere at 500 °C

Aging heat treatments in maraging steels are fundamental to achieve the excellent mechanical properties required in several industries, i.e., nuclear, automotive, etc. In this research, samples of maraging 300 alloy were aged using a novel procedure that combines different steps with two atmospheres (nitrogen and water vapor) for several hours. The oxidized surface layer was chemical, microstructural and micromechanically characterized. Due to the thermodynamic and kinetic conditions, these gases reacted and change the surface chemistry of this steel producing a thin iron-based oxide layer of a homogeneous thickness of around 500 nm. Within the aforementioned information, porosity and other microstructural defects showed a non-homogeneous oxide, mainly constituted by magnetite, nickel ferrite, cobalt ferrite, and a small amount of hematite in the more external parts of the oxide layer. In this sense, from a chemical point of view, the heat treatment under specific atmosphere allows to induce a thin magnetic layer in a mixture of iron, nickel, and cobalt spinel ferrites. On the other hand, the oxide layer presents an adhesive force 99 mN value that shows the capability for being used for tribological applications under sliding contact tests.

Air Permeability of Maraging Steel Cellular Parts Made by Selective Laser Melting

Additive manufacturing, such as selective laser melting (SLM), can be used to manufacture cellular parts. In this study, cellular coupons of maraging steels are prepared through SLM by varying hatch distance. Air flow and permeability of porous maraging steel blocks are obtained for samples of different thickness based on the Darcy equation. By reducing hatch distance from 0.75 to 0.4 mm, the permeability decreases from 1.664 × 10−6 mm2 to 0.991 × 10−6 mm2 for 4 mm thick coupons. In addition, by increasing the thickness from 2 to 8 mm, the permeability increases from 0.741 × 10−6 mm2 to 1.345 × 10−6 mm2 at 16.2 J/mm3 energy density and 0.14 MPa inlet pressure. Simulation using ANSYS-Fluent is conducted to observe the pressure difference across the porous coupons and is compared with the experimental results. Surface artifacts and the actual morphology of scan lines can cause the simulated permeability to deviate from the experimental values. The measured permeability of maraging steel coupons is regression fit with both energy density and size of samples which provide a design guideline of porous mold inserts for industry applications such as injection molding.