Selective laser melting of tungsten carbide reinforced maraging steel composite

In this work, tungsten carbide (WC) reinforced maraging steel matrix composites were in-situ manufactured by selective laser melting (SLM) from powder mixture. The SLM processed samples presented high relative density (over 99%) with a homogenous distribution of WC. The as-fabricated surface quality of SLM processed samples was improved significantly by the addition of WC. Focused ion beam and transmission electron microscopy were employed to characterize the interfacial properties between tungsten carbide and steel matrix. The elemental analysis indicates that metallurgical bonding appears at interfacial region due to the diffusion. Tensile behavior of SLM processed maraging steel was different from their composite with several WC contents.