We develop a pre-alloyed water-atomized (WA) iron powder for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF)-based 3D printers; such a powder has never been used for 3D printing. The powder features low levels of nano-sized Cu-Ni-Mo; these alloying elements are placed into the concavities of the iron powder. When these powders were used for LPBF printing, the processing window for the volumetric energy density ranged from 93 to 130 J/mm³. However, careful control of laser power (150 – 225 W) and scan speed (500 – 900 mm/s) was essential. In terms of production, a maximum relative density of 99.67% was achieved upon application of an energy density of 108 J/mm³ (175 W, 700 mm/s). An average hardness of 217.1 ± 4.7 HV was obtained, exhibiting stable standard deviations and confirming excellent mechanical homogeneity. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping revealed excellent chemical homogeneity; this translated to good mechanical homogeneity because of the uniform mixing of the nano-sized alloying elements. The printed tensile bars were stable and of a relatively high aspect ratio. Tensile strength measurements revealed that samples prepared using the partially pre-alloyed iron powder were better than those fabricated from simple raw WA iron powder; the former samples exhibited an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 460.91 MPa with elongation of 6.98% and the latter a UTS of 197.15 MPa with elongation of 0.45%. Therefore, the pre-alloyed WA iron powder developed in this study can successfully be used in LPBF and presents a more cost-effective alternative to traditional gas atomized iron powders.

我们开发了一种用于基于激光粉末床融合 (LPBF) 的 3D 打印机的预合金水雾化 (WA) 铁粉；这种粉末从未用于 3D 打印。该粉末具有低含量的纳米级Cu-Ni-Mo；这些合金元素被放入铁粉的凹处。当这些粉末用于 LPBF 打印时，体积能量密度的加工窗口范围为 93 至 130 J/mm ³。然而，仔细控制激光功率 (150 – 225 W) 和扫描速度 (500 – 900 mm/s) 至关重要。在生产方面，在施加 108 J/mm ^{3的能量密度时实现了 99.67% 的最大相对密度}（175 瓦，700 毫米/秒）。获得的平均硬度为 217.1 ± 4.7 HV，表现出稳定的标准偏差并证实了出色的机械均匀性。能量色散 X 射线光谱图显示出优异的化学均匀性；由于纳米合金元素的均匀混合，这转化为良好的机械均匀性。印刷的拉伸棒是稳定的并且具有相对高的纵横比。拉伸强度测量表明，使用部分预合金化铁粉制备的样品优于使用简单原料 WA 铁粉制备的样品；前者样品的极限抗拉强度 (UTS) 为 460.91 MPa，伸长率为 6.98%，后者的 UTS 为 197.15 MPa，伸长率为 0.45%。所以，