New developments in steel formulations for Direct Laser Sintering: Characterization and evaluation of joining mechanisms

Rapid Prototyping and Tooling are playing a more and more important role in the achievement of compressed time-to-market solutions. Even so, the spread of these techniques is hardly supported by scientific knowledge about the micro-mechanisms ruling the macroscopic performances of the part. In the present research, parts produced by Direct Laser Sintering technique have been studied, using DirectSteel 20 and the innovative DirectSteel H20. The research aimed at investigating the sintering mechanisms and their influence on the failure modes and mechanical performances. Tensile specimens have been produced, with different orientations in regard to laser path, to study the effect of laser sintering strategy on the anisotropy of parts performances. The tensile tests results have been correlated to the SEM observation of the specimens rupture surfaces. The results proved that no anisotropy can be noticed in the mechanical response for loads applied in the different directions within the plane of powder deposition.