Effects of ageing heat treatment temperature on the properties of DMLS additive manufactured 17-4PH steel

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a modern, innovative manufacturing method that enables the production of fully dense products with high mechanical properties and complex shapes that are often impossible to obtain by traditional methods. The 17-4PH grade steel is often applied where high mechanical performance is required. 17-4PH, or AISI 630, is intended for precipitation hardening, an operation that combines solution and ageing treatments and is used to significantly change the microstructure of the steel and enhance its mechanical properties. This study investigates the effect of precipitation hardening on the properties of 17-4PH steel. To examine microstructure and morphology, metallographic tests were performed together with phase composition and chemical composition analyses. Mechanical parameters were determined via Vickers hardness testing and the Oliver-Pharr method. Samples were fabricated using direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), which is one of the powder bed fusion methods. The use of a constant solution treatment temperature of 1040_C and different ageing temperatures made it possible to evaluate the effects of ageing temperature on the mechanical properties and microstructure of 17-4PH. The presence of face-centered cubic FCC g-austenite and body-centerd cubic BCC a-martensite structures were detected. The tests revealed that – similarly to the wrought material – the highest hardness of 382_10:3 HV0:2 was obtained after ageing at 450_C. The nanoindentation test showed the same H/E ratio for the sample after fabrication and after solution treatment at 0.016769, but this value increased after ageing to 127–157.5%. The sample aged at 450_C was characterized by the highest H/E ratio of 0.026367, which indicates the highest wear resistance of this material under employed treatment conditions. In general, the sample treated at 450_C showed the best performance out of all tested samples, proving to have the smallest grain size as well as high Vickers and nanoindentation hardness. On the other hand, the use of solution treatment led to reduced hardness and improved workability of the AM material.