Heat-treatment Influence on Metal 3D Printing Products

For industrial metal parts, especially the parts used in aerospace and military industries, high strength and high performance are strictly required. After metal 3d printing process, many defects may occur, such as the gap defects and physical performance defects of the material itself and the actual performance problems including excessive internal stress, insufficient hardness and low plasticity of the product.

Due to all of these factors, we can say that heat treatment is an essential step for the metal part after 3d printing. In this article we will guide you to learn more about the good effects of heat treatment on metal 3d printing products through three aspects.

1. Eliminating the internal stress of the printed parts.

The most common form of metal 3D printing is powder bed fusion, because when cold and hot changes, expansion and contraction will cause stress on the printed part. When the stress exceeds the tensile strength of the material or substrate, defects will occur, such as cracks in the part or flexion of the substrate wing. At this time, we can eliminate the internal stress of the print by high temperature heat treatment.

2. Removing the holes in printed parts.

During the 3D printing, the small holes inside the parts will form pores. The more pores in parts, the lower the density it will be, and it will be more prone to fatigue or crack under stress environment. We can remove the holes in the printed parts by high temperature vacuum heat treatment.

3. Prolonging service life of the printed parts.

During the 3D printing, the hardness of the material is extremely high, which will lead to a decrease in plasticity. At the same time, impact toughness will be reduced, or the brittleness of the material will be increased, which will greatly reduce the service life of the printed part. But with heat treatment, the performance of the printed parts will be improved, so as to prolong its service life.

Taking all of these into consideration, Eplus3D has developed heat treatment process for metal 3D printing parts. Welcome to contact us for more details!