Gas Atomization of Duplex Stainless Steel Powder for Laser Powder Bed Fusion

Duplex stainless steel powders for laser additive manufacturing have not been developed extensively. In this study, the melts of a super duplex stainless steel X2CrNiMoCuWN25-7-4 (AISI F55, 1.4501) were atomized with different process gases (Ar or N₂) at different atomization gas temperatures. The process gas N₂ in the melting chamber leads to a higher nitrogen dissolution in the steel and a higher nitrogen content of the atomized powders. The argon-atomized powders have more gas porosity inside the particles than the nitrogen-atomized powders. In addition, the higher the atomization gas temperature, the finer the powder particles. The duplex stainless steel powders showed good processability during PBF-LB/M (Laser powder bed fusion). The gas entrapment in the powder particles, regardless of the gas chemistry and the gas content, appears to have a negligible effect on the porosity of the as-built parts.