Selective Laser Melting Of Steel-based Metal Matrix Composites With Ceramic Reinforcement

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing process by which a part is built layer-by-layer with laser scanning a powder bed from a 3D file. It has been typically used to process elemental and prealloyed metal powders, and also provides great opportunity to consolidate metal powder mixtures to obtain metal matrix composites (MMCs). There are several studies related to processing of Al, Ti, and Cu matrix composites by SLM however there is information about steel matrix composites I very scarce. Considering the above, the aim of this research was to obtain dense parts by SLM of Steel-Based Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) with Ceramic Reinforcement (Cr3C2 up to 9 wt%) for applications requiring improved wear properties. The as-processed microstructures were characterized by Electron Microscopy, including FIB, to analyze the reinforcement-matrix interface and as an aid to interpret wear tests results.