A Novel and Synergistic Application of Additive Manufacturing and Laser Shock Peening Toward Enhanced Tribological Performance and Customized Cutting Tools

Abstract For the first time, a novel approach combining additive manufacturing (AM) with laser shock peening (LSP) was proposed and successfully implemented to create unique additively manufactured Stellite-6 cutting tools, introducing customization and flexibility to the tool-making industry while improving tribological performance. The compressive residual stress increased from −325 to −559 MPa, corresponding to an increase in LSP intensity from 3 to 7 GW/cm2, causing grain distortion and improving the hardness and wear performance of the as-printed Stellite-6 surface. Nanoindentation reveals an improvement in resistance to indenter penetration after LSP application. The increase in H/E and H3/E2 by 148% and 31%, respectively, at the LSP intensity of 7 GW/cm2, shows the wear resistance improvement. Progressive turning operation using AM and LSP-AM cutting tools was performed on mild steel, and machining performance and flank wear behavior were compared with those obtained for commercially available high-speed steel (HSS) M2 cutting tools. The flank wear was 332.1 µm for the AM Stellite-6 tool, which was reduced by 11% for the LSP-AM cutting tool. The tool life of the AM tool was found to be 138% higher than that of the HSS tool, and this improvement was further enhanced by 14% using LSP.