Abstract
Direct energy deposition (DED) is an additive manufacturing technique that involves the melting of metal powder with a high-powered laser beam and is used to build a variety of components. In recent year, it can be widely used in order to produce hard, wear resistant and/or corrosion resistant surface layers of metallic mechanical parts, such as dies and molds. For the purpose of the hardfacing to achieve high wear resistance and hardness, application of high speed steel (HSS) can be expected to improve the tool life. During the DED process using the high-carbon steel, however, defects (delamination or cracking) can be induced by rapid solidification of the molten powder. Thus, substrate preheating is generally adopted to reduce the deposition defect. While the substrate preheating ensures defect-free deposition, it is important to select the optimal preheating temperature since it also affects the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties. In this study, AISI M4 powder was deposited on the AISI 1045 substrate preheated at different temperatures (room temperature to $500^{\circ}C$). In addition, the micro-hardness distribution, cooling rates, and microstructures of the deposited layers were investigated in order to observe the influence of the substrate preheating on the mechanical and metallurgical properties.
