Abstract
The potential of additive manufacturing has reached a point where the techniques are considered highly relevant for production purposes. In general, the manufacturing industry greets the new approach with enthusiasm, as it offers innovative designs and potentially reduced production costs. However, questions arise concerning the durability of additively manufactured components. This paper describes industrial trials with laser cladding and precipitation hardening heat treatment of thin-walled structures with the 17-4 PH stainless steel alloy. Due to the great relevance of the AM production methods for the aviation industry, the mechanical strength of the alloy given by the MMPDS document is used as a baseline. In order to improve the properties of the produced specimens, hot isostatic pressing was applied. The results show that a post processing treatment consisting of a HIP cycle and a conventional precipitation hardening, vastly improves the mechanical strength and elongation values of printed specimens, causing them to exceed the specified values.
