In this work, the effect of built direction on the small-scale mechanical properties and microstructure of a novel maraging stainless steel (SS-CX) manufactured through the selective laser melting (SLM) process was studied. Advanced electron microscopy and nanoindentation techniques were utilized to evaluate retained austenite fraction and micro-mechanical properties, respectively. Different thermal histories caused by the change of the built direction resulted in microstructures with different volume fractions of retained austenite and grain morphology. Furthermore, the slower cooling rates in the vertically built sample was found to result in the formation of large elongated grains and lower hardness values during the nanoindentation experiments.

在这项工作中，研究了构造方向对通过选择性激光熔化（SLM）工艺制造的新型马氏体时效不锈钢（SS-CX）的小尺寸力学性能和微观结构的影响。先进的电子显微镜和纳米压痕技术分别用于评估残余奥氏体分数和微机械性能。生成方向的变化引起的不同热历史导致微观结构具有不同的残余奥氏体体积分数和晶粒形态。此外，在纳米压痕实验中，发现垂直构建的样品中较慢的冷却速率会导致形成较大的细长晶粒，并降低硬度值。