The Cobalt-based superalloy enjoys a high strength and a good heat and corrosion resistance, with a wide range of applications in biomedicine, aerospace and other fields. In recent years, the rapid development of the additive manufacturing technology represented by the selective laser melting technology (SLM) has provided new possibilities for the processing and the application of high-temperature alloys such as the cobalt-based superalloys. Compared with the traditional processing methods, the additive manufacturing technology has many advantages, such as the customization, the fairly easy processing of complex structural parts and the short manufacturing cycle. This paper reviews the applications of the selective laser melting (SLM) technology in the preparation of the cobalt-based superalloys, as well as the tests for the density and mechanical properties, and the influence of the process parameters on the density, the hardness and other mechanical properties such as the roughness, the tensile strength. In order to meet the actual use demand, the postprocessing might be needed and the influence of the postprocessing should be considered.

cobalt-based superalloy  /  selective laser melting  /  laser additive manufacturing