What property is most significantly improved through heat treatment in additive manufactured metals?

Heat treatment significantly enhances the mechanical strength of additive manufactured metals by altering their microstructure. This process typically involves heating the metal to a specific temperature, holding it at that temperature for a duration, and then cooling it down, which can lead to changes in grain size, phase distribution, and other structural characteristics.

In additive manufacturing, metals can initially have certain residual stresses and defects from the printing process. Heat treatment helps relieve these stresses and results in uniform grain structures, which increases tensile strength, yield strength, and overall hardness. This enhanced mechanical strength is crucial for applications that demand high performance and reliability in structural components.

While dimensional accuracy, surface finish, and color fidelity may see some improvements through heat treatment or other post-processing techniques, they are not the primary focus or effect of heat treatment itself. Dimensional accuracy is often more directly influenced by the additive manufacturing process and post-processing methods, such as machining or polishing. Surface finish improvements are generally achieved through processes like sanding or chemical treatments. Color fidelity is unrelated to mechanical properties and is more of a characteristic associated with the aesthetics of a part rather than its strength or durability.