A new breakthrough in 3D printing technology! Produces high strength ductile stainless steel parts

Recently, a joint research team from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, Stockholm University in Sweden and Zhejiang University in China developed a new stainless steel SLM 3D printing technology with high strength and ductility, which overcomes the strength and ductility of additive manufacturing. The bottleneck. This process can be used to manufacture heavy components in the aerospace and automotive industries.

A new breakthrough in 3D printing technology! Produces high strength ductile stainless steel parts

The new selective laser melting (SLM) technology developed by the research team is capable of printing unprecedented shapes, providing ultra-fast cooling rates from -1000 ° C / s to 100 million ° C / s, which produces some very desirable mechanical results, making 3D printed stainless steel is more resistant to car and aircraft manufacturers. The rapid cooling rate of this technology, in addition to additive manufacturing, has not yet reached the metal production process, leaving the metal in a non-equilibrium state. This can result in sub-micron-sized misaligned network microstructures that produce desirable mechanical properties such as strength and ductility.

A new breakthrough in 3D printing technology! Produces high strength ductile stainless steel parts

“This work provides researchers with a new tool to design new alloy systems with super-mechanical properties that help metal 3D printing enter areas where high mechanical properties are required, such as structural components in the aerospace and automotive sectors.” Dr. Leifeng Liu, a researcher at ABCASH at the University of Birmingham, said.

Liu and his team are responsible for building micro-nano material testing systems inside the electron microscope so that researchers can analyze the performance of 3D printed metal samples during mechanical testing. It is understood that this test system helps researchers understand these physical mechanisms and determine the effective microstructure characteristics of the printed metal.