from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
AISI H13 is commonly used for tooling, where higher wear resistance, thermal fatigue resistance, or hot toughness is required. Such examples include forging dies, plastic molds, hot shear blades, high-pressure die casting, and extrusion dies. Thus, thermal conductivity is one of the most important factors for hot work tools. Typically, the work cycle of a hot work tool designed for forging consists of four main phases: the forging stroke, with which the die imparts its shape onto the part, a brief pause while the die is reset to its original position, a lubrication phase, and a post lubrication dwell phase. During the forging phase, a significant amount of heat is transferred to the die while it is in contact with the part. This heat must then be dispelled for the part to return to a working temperature. While somewhat different, other hot work processes mentioned above are similar in that the hot work tool gets heated to a high temperature due to the contact with the object of deformation. The process of additive manufacturing (AM) promises better, more efficient tool production with features like conforming cooling channels, which would reduce the thermal fatigue of tools, prolonging tool life. However, the powder bed fusion (PBF) method creates a columnar microstructure, which has a detrimental effect on the thermal conductivity of H13 tool steel. Our investigation focused on the beneficial effect of heat treatment, specifically annealing at different temperatures, on the thermal conductivity of AM-produced H13 parts.
Keywords: SLM, Thermal Conductivity, Tool Steel, Heat Treatment© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.