Forgecise Launches Additive Manufacturing-Specific 18Ni300 Hot-Work Tool Steel Powder, Redefining the Heights of Mold Manufacturing

Release Date: 2026-04-10

In the realm of high-end manufacturing and precision forming, molds are hailed as the “Mother of Industry.” As 3D printing technology penetrates deeper into the mold industry, material requirements have reached unprecedented heights. While traditional hot-work tool steels possess excellent red hardness, they often encounter technical bottlenecks in the rapid melting-solidification non-equilibrium process of 3D printing, such as high thermal stress, micro-crack sensitivity, and difficult formability.

Challenges of Traditional Mold Manufacturing

• Difficult-to-Control Forming Defects: Traditional mold steels like H13 are highly sensitive to thermal stress during laser melting due to their high alloy content, making them prone to micro-cracks and deformation, which often leads to print failure.
• Difficult Performance Balance: While pursuing high hardness, material toughness is often sacrificed, causing molds to be susceptible to chipping or fatigue failure during service.
• Complex Post-Processing: The density and dimensional stability of parts printed with traditional powders are often insufficient, requiring complex heat treatment processes that can easily cause distortion during treatment.

The Forgecise Solution: High-Performance Powder

Addressing these industry pain points, Forgecise has launched a high-performance hot-work tool steel powder specifically optimized for additive manufacturing—18Ni300.

This material not only inherits the excellent high-temperature strength of traditional mold steels but also solves the cracking problem during printing through compositional reconstruction. Forgecise provides a complete customized solution covering “material-printing process-heat treatment route.” The powder features excellent flowability and sphericity, ensuring uniform powder spreading during printing, and is particularly suitable for manufacturing conformal cooling channels in complex cavity molds such as die-casting molds and hot forging dies.

Technical Breakthroughs and Performance Comparison

To address the technical bottlenecks of traditional hot-work tool steels in 3D printing—such as thermal stress sensitivity, micro-cracks, and cracking due to high alloy content—the Forgecise materials R&D team has reconstructed the chemical composition of 18Ni300 specifically for additive manufacturing and custom-developed a dedicated “solution treatment + aging” heat treatment process.

After multiple rounds of printing validation, the powder launched by Forgecise demonstrates significantly superior comprehensive mechanical properties compared to traditional materials in the same category.

Material Characteristics

• Ultimate Crack Resistance: Unique low-segregation composition design completely solves the cracking problem of high-hardness mold steel during printing.
• High Density: Printing density can reach over 99.9%, meeting non-destructive testing standards.
• Excellent Red Hardness: Maintains high hardness and stability even under high-temperature operating conditions.

Chemical Composition and Physical Properties

The Forgecise 18Ni300 powder is prepared using vacuum induction gas atomization (VIGA) process, ensuring purity and consistency of composition.

Typical Chemical Composition (wt.%)

• Cr (8.5~9.5%)
• Ni (17~19%)
• Mo (4.2~5.2%)
• Mn (≤0.1%)
• Ti (≤0.8~0.9%)
• C (≤0.03%)
• Al (0.05~0.15%)
• S (≤0.01%)
• O (≤0.15%)

Physical Property Parameters

• Particle Size: 15 ~ 53 μm
• Morphology: Spherical
• Flowability: 40S (Hall Flowmeter)
• Apparent Density: 4.3 g/cm³

Printing Validation and Applications

Forgecise has conducted full-process validation on its self-developed iSLM series of high-precision metal 3D printers.

After printing, the molds undergo Forgecise’s customized “step heat treatment” process to eliminate internal residual stresses. Metallographic analysis shows that the 18Ni300 mold features fine and uniform grains with no obvious columnar grain segregation. The mechanical properties are excellent, fully meeting the stringent service requirements of die-casting molds.

Future Outlook

Currently, Forgecise has achieved mature and stable levels in the alloy composition design of 18Ni300 hot-work tool steel powder, inert gas atomization preparation, 3D printing process optimization, and post-processing full-chain technology. The launch of this material not only fills the gap in high-performance mold additive manufacturing materials but also provides strong material support for the design of next-generation high-efficiency, long-life molds.

Forgecise will continue to delve deep into the industrial manufacturing field, promoting the implementation of more integrated “material + process + equipment” solutions, and contributing to the soaring development of China’s manufacturing industry.

About Forgecise

Forgecise is an innovator in additive manufacturing technology, dedicated to providing high-performance metal 3D printing materials, equipment, and process solutions for the mold manufacturing, energy power, and other industrial sectors.