Aditive manufacturing of M300 steel cutting tools by selective laser melting

Abstract

The article presents preliminary research on the application of additive manufacturing in the production of monolithic cutting tools for various machining operations as a new way of producing cutting tools with innovative potential. The necessary steps to produce functional cutting tools via Selective Laser Melting have been investigated. Two sets if samples were printed via SLM machine ReniShaw AM 400 from maraging steel M300 in collaboration with VSB-TU Ostrava. First set of samples were semi-finished rods and second set were cutting tools with printed geometry. Machine operations such as turning and grinding were used to achieve functionality of cutting tools so that can be used in the machining process. Experimental part of article is focused on investigating of machining capabilities of printed cutting tools.