This paper deals with the study of high-strength M300 maraging steel produced using the selective laser melting method. Heat treatment consists of solution annealing and subsequent aging; the influence of the selected aging temperatures on the final mechanical properties-microhardness and compressive yield strength-and the structure of the maraging steel are described in detail. The microstructure of the samples is examined using optical and electron microscopy. The compressive test results show that the compressive yield strength increased after heat treatment up to a treatment temperature of 480 °C and then gradually decreased. The sample aged at 480 °C also exhibited the highest observed microhardness of 562 HV. The structure of this sample changed from the original melt pools to a relatively fine-grained structure with a high fraction of high-angle grain boundaries (72%).

Department of Engineering Faculty of Special Technology Alexander Dubcek University of Trencin Pri Parku 19 911 06 Trenčín Slovakia

Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Military Technology University of Defence in Brno 602 00 Brno Czech Republic

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Brno University of Technology 616 00 Brno Czech Republic

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