High performance plain carbon steels obtained through 3D-printing
Abstract Over the last century, improvement in mechanical performance of structural metals has primarily been achieved by creating more and more complex chemical compositions. Such compositional complexity raises costs, creates supply vulnerability, and complicates recycling. As a relatively new met...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54507-4 |
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| author | Qiyang Tan Haiwei Chang Guofang Liang Vladimir Luzin Yu Yin Fanshuo Wang Xing Cheng Ming Yan Qiang Zhu Christopher Hutchinson Ming-Xing Zhang |
| author_facet | Qiyang Tan Haiwei Chang Guofang Liang Vladimir Luzin Yu Yin Fanshuo Wang Xing Cheng Ming Yan Qiang Zhu Christopher Hutchinson Ming-Xing Zhang |
| author_sort | Qiyang Tan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Over the last century, improvement in mechanical performance of structural metals has primarily been achieved by creating more and more complex chemical compositions. Such compositional complexity raises costs, creates supply vulnerability, and complicates recycling. As a relatively new metal processing technique, metal 3D-printing provides a possibility to revisit and simplify alloy compositions, achieving alloy plainification, which enables simpler materials to be used versatilely. Here, we demonstrate that high performance simple plain carbon steels can be produced through 3D-printing. Our 3D-printed plain carbon steels achieve tensile and impact properties comparable, or even superior to those of ultra-high strength alloy steels such as Maraging steels. The sequential micro-scale melting and solidification intrinsic to 3D-printing provides sufficient cooling to directly form martensite and/or bainite, strengthening the steels while maintaining microstructural and property homogeneity without dimensional limitations or heat treatment distortion and cracking. By manipulating 3D-printing parameters, we can tailor the microstructure, thereby control the properties for customized applications. This offers a scalable approach to reduce alloy complexity without compromising mechanical performance and highlights the opportunities for the 3D-printing to help drive alloy plainification. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a6fb494fd7a14ef8855cec23132aaeff |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-a6fb494fd7a14ef8855cec23132aaeff2025-08-20T02:22:29ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-11-0115111110.1038/s41467-024-54507-4High performance plain carbon steels obtained through 3D-printingQiyang Tan0Haiwei Chang1Guofang Liang2Vladimir Luzin3Yu Yin4Fanshuo Wang5Xing Cheng6Ming Yan7Qiang Zhu8Christopher Hutchinson9Ming-Xing Zhang10School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of QueenslandSchool of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of QueenslandSchool of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of QueenslandAustralian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO)School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of QueenslandSchool of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of QueenslandDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering and Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Additive Manufacturing of High-performance Materials, Southern University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering and Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Additive Manufacturing of High-performance Materials, Southern University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering and Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Additive Manufacturing of High-performance Materials, Southern University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash UniversitySchool of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of QueenslandAbstract Over the last century, improvement in mechanical performance of structural metals has primarily been achieved by creating more and more complex chemical compositions. Such compositional complexity raises costs, creates supply vulnerability, and complicates recycling. As a relatively new metal processing technique, metal 3D-printing provides a possibility to revisit and simplify alloy compositions, achieving alloy plainification, which enables simpler materials to be used versatilely. Here, we demonstrate that high performance simple plain carbon steels can be produced through 3D-printing. Our 3D-printed plain carbon steels achieve tensile and impact properties comparable, or even superior to those of ultra-high strength alloy steels such as Maraging steels. The sequential micro-scale melting and solidification intrinsic to 3D-printing provides sufficient cooling to directly form martensite and/or bainite, strengthening the steels while maintaining microstructural and property homogeneity without dimensional limitations or heat treatment distortion and cracking. By manipulating 3D-printing parameters, we can tailor the microstructure, thereby control the properties for customized applications. This offers a scalable approach to reduce alloy complexity without compromising mechanical performance and highlights the opportunities for the 3D-printing to help drive alloy plainification.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54507-4 |
| spellingShingle | Qiyang Tan Haiwei Chang Guofang Liang Vladimir Luzin Yu Yin Fanshuo Wang Xing Cheng Ming Yan Qiang Zhu Christopher Hutchinson Ming-Xing Zhang High performance plain carbon steels obtained through 3D-printing Nature Communications |
| title | High performance plain carbon steels obtained through 3D-printing |
| title_full | High performance plain carbon steels obtained through 3D-printing |
| title_fullStr | High performance plain carbon steels obtained through 3D-printing |
| title_full_unstemmed | High performance plain carbon steels obtained through 3D-printing |
| title_short | High performance plain carbon steels obtained through 3D-printing |
| title_sort | high performance plain carbon steels obtained through 3d printing |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54507-4 |
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