Study on Machinability of Laser Sintered Materials Fabricated By Layered Manufacturing System: Influence of Different Hardness of Sintered Materials

This paper investigates machinability of laser sintered materials fabricated by layered manufacturing system. Different types of sintered materials; chromium molybdenum (SCM) sintered material and maraging steel (MAS) sintered material were fabricated by using selective laser melting (SLM) method. Measurement of cutting force and cutting temperature were carried out by using ball end mill in order to understand the influence of different hardness of sintered materials on machinability. Bulk carbon steel (JIS S55C) was selected as reference steel. Experimental results show that MAS sintered material is difficult to machine material where cutting force of MAS sintered material was higher than SCM sintered material. However, even though MAS sintered material has higher hardness than SCM sintered material, cutting temperature was low due to high thermal conductivity. From these results, MAS sintered material can be considered as good material to produce mold due to its high hardness and good machinability.