Regulating Oxides Enhances the Mechanical Properties of Additively Manufactured Martensitic Stainless Steel

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), a subset of additive manufacturing, is used increasingly to produce martensitic stainless steels (MSSs) for aerospace and medical devices. However, excessive oxygen content in MSS powder generally impairs the mechanical properties of parts produced via LPBF. To investigate the effect of oxides on additively manufactured MSS, this study utilizes powders with various oxygen contents and printed numerous samples under different parameters. This article systematically analyzes the source, morphology, and distribution of oxides in MSS samples and their effects on the microstructure and mechanical properties. It is found that MSS samples printed with high‐oxygen powder exhibit higher strength and hardness. The average hardness of high‐oxygen powder‐printed samples increases by 14.2 HV 3 over low‐oxygen samples. Additionally, their average tensile and yield strengths of 1025.97 and 809.18 MPa show increases of 3.36% and 17.33%, respectively. This provides a reference for regulating oxides in additively manufactured MSS and potentially benefiting from them.