Effect of Scanning Strategy in the L-PBF Process of 18Ni300 Maraging Steel

Maraging steels are good candidates for the laser powder bed fusion process (L-PBF), also known as Selective Laser Melting, due to excellent weldability and resistance to quench cracking. Powders physical and chemical characteristics dominate the final microstructure and properties of the printed parts, that are also heavily influenced by the process parameters. In this study, the effects of the scanning strategies on dimensions, average surface roughness, density and material hardness were evaluated, keeping the powder type and the volumetric energy density (Andrew number) constant. The effects of the scanning strategy on these properties are far less understood than on other important ones, like residual stresses and distortion, strongly affected by the scanning strategy. In this study, parallel stripes, chessboard and hexagonal pattern strategies were studied, keeping the Andrew number constant but varying the interlayer rotation. In general, the hexagonal strategy underperformed compared to the chessboard and the stripes ones.