Repercussions of powder contamination on the fatigue life of additive manufactured maraging steel

A wide range of materials is suitable for processing by powder bed fusion (PBF) techniques. Among the latest formulations, maraging steel 18Ni-300, which is a martensite-hardenable alloy, is often used when both high fracture toughness and high strength are required, or if dimensional changes need to be minimised. In direct tooling, 18Ni-300 can be successfully employed in numerous applications, for example in the production of dies for injection moulding and for casting of aluminium alloys; moreover, it is particularly valuable for high-performance engineering parts.