Fatigue Strength in Additive Toolmaking: A Study of Metal Binder Jetting and Electron Beam Melting for Processing Carbide‐Rich Cold‐Work Tool Steels

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers numerous possibilities for toolmaking, such as the integration of internal cooling structures, easy fabrication of complex tool geometries, or hybrid manufacturing. Another important aspect is the minimization of necessary post‐processing steps through near‐net‐shape manufacturing, which enables needed cost and effort savings, especially for difficult‐to‐machine, carbide‐rich tool steels. Previous studies have investigated laser powder bed fusion (PBF‐LB/M) as a possible process. However, PBF‐LB/M is not applicable to all steels. In this study, AISI A11 was successfully processed using metal binder jetting and electron beam melting both with optional hot isostatic pressing (HIP). The resulting microstructures were characterized depending on the AM process. Mechanical investigations enable appropriate microstructure–property correlations for fatigue performances. For additively manufactured A11, the high cycle fatigue (HCF, N G = 10 7 ) strengths are statistically evaluated under rotation bending tests. Those results are compared to conventional A11 PM produced via HIP and subsequent hot working. The results show that AM toolmaking of high vanadium alloyed, carbide‐rich tool steels is a promising alternative to conventional steelmaking.