[HN Gopher] How to 3D-Print One of the Strongest Stainless Steels
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       How to 3D-Print One of the Strongest Stainless Steels
        
       Author : sizzle
       Score  : 62 points
       Date   : 2022-09-26 17:49 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nist.gov)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nist.gov)
        
       | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
       | An annoyance, but if they're heat treating in the printing
       | step... that's 17-4 steel, but it will never be 17-4 PH, as there
       | is no perception hardening step.
       | 
       | Also, "one of" should be emphasized there. 17-4 is very good
       | common steel. But there are tons like inconel (a tradename for a
       | 600 series), or maraging steels that beat in strength
       | applications. It's good, but it's common good. Not common great.
       | And certainly not exotic good.
       | 
       | As a machinist, you had better have a good plan before get into
       | inconel. For 17-4, you can pretty much just have at it.
        
         | kansface wrote:
         | This isn't my area of expertise. The article mentioned that
         | they could skip some sort of tempering/annealing step. Is that
         | distinct from the PH step here?
        
       | adrian_b wrote:
       | Non-pay-walled version of the research paper:
       | 
       | https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=93265...
        
         | bozhark wrote:
         | 2nd page of the paper has a decent description with data and a
         | visual diagram of the process, it's worth checking out.
         | 
         | "Characterization of phase transformation dynamics of
         | commercial additively manufactured 17-4 stainless steel
         | (C_17-4) during laser melting. (a) Schematic illustration of
         | in-situ laser-melting X-ray diffraction experiment. A vertical
         | laser beam scans the sample to create a localized melt pool.
         | The micro-focused high-energy X-ray beam is used to probe the
         | phase transformation dynamics with a frame rate of 250 Hz. (b)
         | Room temperature XRD pattern of as-solidified C_17-4 after
         | laser melting. (c) XRD intensity map (XRD peak intensity
         | evolution as a function of time) during laser melting of C_17-4
         | from 0 s to 20 s. The liquid gap near 0.15 s without any
         | diffraction peaks denotes the period when all the material in
         | the X-ray path was fully melted. The time axis is enlarged in
         | the 0-1 s range to highlight the phase transformation details
         | during the initial solidification stage. (d) EBSD of as-printed
         | C_17-4 microstructure displayed in inversed pole figure (IPF)
         | coloring. (e) EBSD of as-printed C_17-4 microstructure
         | displayed in image quality (IQ) map. Martensite (a') phase and
         | a mixture of austenite (g) and d-ferrite (d) phases were
         | pointed out in the microstructure. (f) EBSD phase map of as-
         | printed C_17-4. (g) XRD intensity evolution from (c) during
         | solidification. The time axis is enlarged in the 0-1 s range.
         | The uncertainty for BCC intensity measurement is 1 %. The
         | uncertainty for FCC intensity measurement is 2 %."
        
       | abdullahkhalids wrote:
       | Anyone have a rough idea of how much such a printer would cost?
        
         | ezekg wrote:
         | A direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) machine costs >$100k.
         | 
         | Maybe someday it'll be as affordable as FDM is now.
        
           | abdullahkhalids wrote:
           | That doesn't sound too expensive, given the temperatures and
           | safety features involved.
           | 
           | But the raw parts are probably an order of magnitude cheaper,
           | so price should come down to those levels if production
           | scales up.
        
       | TOMDM wrote:
       | Are there any pictures of a finished part?
       | 
       | I'm assuming there would be features that need to be cleaned up
       | after a print, but this looks incredible.
       | 
       | I wonder what the cost savings are like vs a 6dof CNC mill for
       | parts that can be made that way.
        
         | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
         | >6dof CNC mill
         | 
         | 6-axis, dof is the wrong term here.
        
           | defterGoose wrote:
           | 5-axis. No one uses Stanford arms for milling strong
           | materials. The sixth axis would be redundant with the spindle
           | rotation anyway.
        
         | monkpit wrote:
         | Not only that, but if you can print finished parts you can
         | engineer parts that cannot be physically machined.
        
           | TOMDM wrote:
           | Yeah, the ability to rapid prototype parts with occluded
           | cavities that can't be machined by a CNC makes this a
           | compelling capability all on its own.
        
           | dekhn wrote:
           | Example: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1068443 if not
           | impossible, would be very difficult to machine, but is
           | straightforward for a printer.
        
             | etrautmann wrote:
             | Great point, though I think this isn't a great example - it
             | should be straightforward to machine that part with a 5
             | axis cnc since all of the suns rays pass straight through
             | and an end mill could approach from each of those angles as
             | well.
        
         | amelius wrote:
         | I wonder if you can make screw threads and how fine using this
         | technique.
        
       | monkpit wrote:
       | > As a bonus, some compositions resulted in the formation of
       | strength-inducing nanoparticles that, with the traditional
       | method, require the steel to be cooled and then reheated.
       | 
       | Is this just a fancy way of saying it doesn't require heat
       | treatment?
        
       | ezekg wrote:
       | If this is interesting to anybody, CGS recently created 3D
       | printed suppressors using direct metal laser sintering (DMLS),
       | but with Titanium instead of SS [0]. It allows for new geometries
       | to suppress the expanding gasses that just weren't possible with
       | CNC'd parts welded together. SIG also started producing
       | suppressors with DMLS [1].
       | 
       | I don't have one (yet), but the results on sound signature look
       | to be pretty impressive [2].
       | 
       | [0]: https://cgsgroup.com/product/hyperion/
       | 
       | [1]: https://www.sigsauer.com/suppressors.html
       | 
       | [2]: https://pewscience.com/sound-signature-reviews-
       | free/sss-6-71...
        
         | adolph wrote:
         | I wonder if the methods could be used for acoustic suppression
         | of other things, like fans.
         | 
         | For example the foam used in the below one wouldn't be useful
         | for a kitchen hood fan.
         | 
         | https://www.amazon.com/VIVOSUN-Noise-Reducer-Silencer-Inline...
        
         | pvarangot wrote:
         | I'm in California so I can't suppress my firearms because that
         | would put the rest of the population in grave danger. That
         | being said, the most impressive thing of the sintered
         | suppressors rather than the sound signature for me was the
         | reduction in blowback. I heard them on pistols and semi-auto
         | rifles though, I suppose to truly hear it I should have seen it
         | on a bolt action.
        
       | convolvatron wrote:
       | thats insane. its animated crystallography.
        
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