Maraging steels are used in several industries, namely in the molds industry. The determination of fatigue crack propagation resistance in 18Ni300 maraging steel at the Paris regime is a vital issue for safety-relevant components, which are designed to work for a large number of loading cycles before periodic inspections. The main goal of this work is to analyze the influence of the deposition plane angle and saline corrosion on fatigue crack growth in maraging steel samples produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF). The crack closure parameter was used in order to analyze the different fatigue crack growth behaviors, as well as the metallographic, hardness, fractography and corrosion/oxidation analysis. From this work, the main achievement was that the deposition plane angle did not reveal a notable influence in the fatigue crack growth behavior for the fatigue tests unsubmitted to saline corrosion. On the other hand, the fatigue crack growth behavior for the tests under saline corrosion showed an increase in the crack closure parameter due to the appearance of the crack closure induced by oxides, which reduced the fatigue crack growth speed. This phenomenon depends on the deposition plane angle, which controls the martensite amount and consequently controls the level of corrosion/oxidation.
This study investigates the impact of low-temperature stress-relieving treatment on the fatigue life of AlSi10Mg components produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF). The research focuses on a bicycle crank arm, comparing its performance in as-built and heat-treated conditions. The heat treatment involved stress-relieving at 250 °C for 2 h, followed by water quenching. The study found that the as-built condition exhibited a supersaturated Si cellular-dendritic microstructure, while the heat-treated condition showed coarsening of β-Mg2Si phases and Si precipitates. This morphological change led to a decrease in hardness and an increase in ductility. Fatigue tests demonstrated that the heat-treated crank arms achieved the target of 100,000 cycles without failure, unlike the as-built samples, which failed prematurely. The fractography analysis identified surface porosity as the primary crack initiation site. The findings suggest that low-temperature stress-relieving treatment can enhance the fatigue performance of L-PBF AlSi10Mg components by reducing residual stresses and improving defect tolerance.
19 July 2024 in Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures
This investigation concerns about of fatigue behavior under controlled loading and under strain control for hybrid specimens with parts produced with conventional processes in steel AISI H13 and the stainless steel AISI 420 and the rest part produced by laser powder bed fusion in AISI 18Ni300 steel. The controlled loading tests were performed in constant and variable amplitude. Fatigue failure of hybrid samples occurs mostly in laser-melted parts, initiated around the surface, in many cases with multi-nucleation and propagated predominantly between the deposited layers. Fatigue strength of hybrid parts, tested under displacement control is similar, but for specimens tested under load control the fatigue strength the fatigue strength of hybrid specimens is progressively lesser than laser powder bed fusion samples. Despite a tendency to obtain conservative predictions, Miner’s law predicts reasonably the fatigue lives under block loadings. The interface between materials presented an excellent joining and fatigue strength because the fatigue failure of hybrid samples occurred mostly in laser melted parts out of the interface.