Metals for industrial 3D printing
3D printing tool steel
1.2709 and M78
3D printing tool steel: New opportunities for mold making
Powdered 3D printing tool steel for additive manufacturing offers new possibilities in tool and mold making. This means that tools that were previously only produced using the subtractive process (machining) can now also be produced economically and to the highest quality using additive manufacturing.
Which 3D printing tool steel is optimal?
Based on our many years of experience with various tool steels, we focus on manufacturing with two 3D printing tool steel powders that reliably meet the high expectations of our customers: The hot-work tool steel 1.2709 impresses with its very good elongation and yield strengths and the tool steel M789 , which, in addition to its high strength, also has very good corrosion resistance.
How 3D printing tool steel performs
3D printing tool steel is a steel alloy with a maximum carbon content of 2.06% and very low proportions of sulphur and phosphorus (stainless steels). A distinction is made between alloyed and unalloyed tool steels with different material properties. Unalloyed 3D printing tool steel can be used at temperatures up to a maximum of 200 °C, alloyed 3D printing tool steel is also resistant to continuous operation at higher temperatures - hot work tool steel up to 400 °C, high-speed steel even up to 600 °C.
Advantages of 3D printing tool steel
- High mechanical load capacity
- High abrasion resistance
- Very good stretchability and extensibility
- Resistant to continuous operation up to 400 °C
- Homogeneous and dense surface structure
- Very good processability in the 3D printing process
- Great design freedom
- Ideal for production in rapid tooling
Fields of application for 3D printing tool steel:
3D printing tool steel in powder form, which is mechanically extremely resilient, abrasion-resistant and durable, is used for the additive manufacturing of printing and injection molding tools and inserts, among other things. This is particularly useful for complex tools that can only be produced by machining with frequent reclamping or cannot be produced at all with the given geometry. Even heavy-duty injection mold inserts with conformal cooling can be easily manufactured from tool steels 1.2709 or M789. In addition to toolmaking, tool steels are also suitable for 3D printing of components that have to withstand high loads – for example in the aerospace industry.
Durable maraging and hot-work tool steel
The powdered 3D printing tool steel 1.2709 is an ultra-high-strength maraging steel that is characterized by excellent elongation and yield strengths. In addition to its strength and toughness, it also offers good thermal conductivity. These properties result from the formation of intermetallic phases and precipitates during heat treatment.
The tool steel 1.2709 is not only ideal for tool and mold making, but is also used in components for the aerospace industry. As a hot-work tool steel, it can be used in applications where the surface temperature of the steel tool is between 200 and 400 °C.
Properties 3D printing tool steel 1.2709
Corrosion-resistant maraging steel
The 3D printing tool steel M789 combines the outstanding strength of tool steel 1.2709 with the corrosion resistance of tool steel 17-4 PH. As an ultra-high-strength and corrosion-resistant 3D printing tool steel, M789 is a very good choice of material for applications where the material must be harder than 50 HRC and must not corrode. This is the case, for example, in plastic injection molding applications with near-contour cooling.
Properties 3D printing tool steel M789
Would you like a personal offer or advice?
Your contact team
Telephone
+49 (0) 6461 75852-50e-mail
metall@fkm.net