Effect of the Position in the Build Chamber on the Fatigue Strength of Additively Manufactured Maraging Steel MS1

The quality of additively produced parts and the achievable mechanical response may be affected by several factors, such as build orientation, heat treatment, or machining. A further rarely investigated factor is the position of the built part in the chamber with respect to inert gas flow. Previous studies have highlighted that the interaction between gas flow and laser track may induce an intense vaporization with consequent lack of fusion, particle entrainment, drop in density and denudation of the produced part, which is likely to detrimentally affect mechanical properties. This study addresses the effect of part position on the fatigue strength of heat-treated maraging steel MS1 produced by an EOSINT M280 machine in a nitrogen environment. Novelty arises from the lack of studies in this field, especially under fatigue. A factorial plan with subsequent statistical analysis highlighted that positioning the part upstream with respect to the gas flow leads to a slightly lower fatigue strength; however, no significant differences are observed. The failure mode, involving initiation from subsurface porosities of the same size, is also unaffected. Finally, a fatigue limit of 26% of the ultimate tensile strength is found, which is consistent with previous outcomes.