Processability of K340 Cold Work Tool Steel by Directed Energy Deposition Technique

Directed Energy Deposition (DED) is an additive manufacturing process which can be used to repair defected components, such as blanking dies made of K340 tool steel. In this work, double tracks of K340 steel were deposited using DED process to study the processability of the alloy, and the tracks were characterized by light optical microscopy (LOM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and microhardness test. The results showed that near full-dense deposits can be made. However, the thermal cycle imposed by the process alters the microstructure of the material. Further investigation is required to make it possible to achieve a more homogeneous microstructure.