Phase transformation dynamics guided alloy design for additive manufacturing

Published

August 23, 2022

Author(s)

Qilin Guo, Minglei Qu, Chihpin Chuang, Lianghua Xiong, Ali Nabaa, Zachary Young, Yang Ren, Peter Kenesei, Fan Zhang, Lianyi Chen

Abstract

Fusion-based additive manufacturing technologies enable the fabrication of geometrically and compositionally complex parts unachievable by conventional manufacturing methods. However, the non-uniform and far-from-equilibrium heating/cooling conditions pose a significant challenge to control desirable phases in the as-printed parts. Here we report a precipitation hardening stainless steel design guided by phase transformation dynamics revealed by in-situ high-speed, high-energy, high-resolution X-ray diffraction. This stainless steel consistently forms desired fully martensitic structure across a wide range of cooling rates (102–107 ℃/s). It exhibits a tensile strength of 1364 MPa in the as-printed condition, comparable to the strength of its peak-aged wrought counterpart after precipitation hardening heat treatment. The superior as-printed property is attributed to the fully martensitic structure and the fine precipitates formed during the intrinsic heat treatment, characteristic of additive manufacturing. The phase transformation dynamics guided alloy design strategy demonstrated here opens the path for developing reliable, high-performance alloys specific for additive manufacturing.

Citation

Additive Manufacturing

Volume

59

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

additive manufacturing, stainless steel, nonequibrlium phase transition

Citation

Guo, Q. , Qu, M. , Chuang, C. , Xiong, L. , Nabaa, A. , Young, Z. , Ren, Y. , Kenesei, P. , Zhang, F. and Chen, L. (2022), Phase transformation dynamics guided alloy design for additive manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=932657 (Accessed October 27, 2025)