Remanufacturing H13 steel moulds and dies using laser metal deposition

The exploitation of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in the repair and remanufacture of industrial components, such as moulds and dies, has become an emerging research area due to the expected reduction of replacement cost and the promise of better mechanical and wear resistance properties – moreover, the use of remanufacturing standards ensures a greater than or equal to warranty part quality. Further studies plan to utilize Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) to remanufacture artificially worn H13 Steel samples, allowing benchmarking studies to be conducted in order to compare the mechanical and wear resistance performance of LMD against current welding repair technologies. The specimens will be subjected to an accelerated pressure and elevated temperatures schedule, simulating the loading cycles during the use of the die sets. The effects on the resulting part properties of different process parameters setup, including the type and characteristics of the deposited powder will be studied