The synergic effects of heat treatment and building direction on the microstructure and anisotropic mechanical properties of laser powder bed fusion Corrax maraging stainless steel

An anisotropic microstructure and mechanical properties are big challenges in the development of various laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) alloys. This study investigated the roles of heat treatment and building direction (BD) on the microstructure and anisotropic mechanical properties of LPBF Corrax maraging stainless steel. The effects of solution treatment (ST) and integrated solution-aging treatment (SAT) were clarified. The results show that the grain size of martensite, amount of austenite, and features of grain boundaries were slightly varied with the building direction due to the thermal history. In the as-built state, the weak <111>α′||BD, <1 1‾ 0>α′||X, and <001>α′||BD textures could be found. After the SAT process, the <1 1‾ 0>α′||X texture was slightly intensified due to the coarsening of large columnar grains. However, the texture of the SAT sample was still weak. Furthermore, the building direction and heat treatment did not lead to obvious anisotropic tensile properties or change the ductile fracture mode. The weak texture and pores in LPBF Corrax did not dominate the tensile properties. Irrespective of sample state, the horizontally-built samples exhibited comparable strengths and slightly higher elongation than the vertically-built ones did. In the as-built condition, this phenomenon can be mainly attributed to the transformation-induced plasticity effect. In the ST and SAT conditions, smaller grain sizes of martensite and higher high-angle grain boundary ratios in the horizontally-built samples provided more resistance to crack propagation. LPBF Corrax maraging stainless steel exhibited superior tensile performances and low anisotropic tensile properties, which are very beneficial to the stability of the material during service.