Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Selective Laser Melted and Heat Treated H13 Hot Work Tool Steel

•The thermal conductivities of selective laser melted H13 tool steel were lower than the conventionally processed H13 and were affected by the processing and heat-treating parameters.•The as-built H13 showed obvious anisotropy in thermal conductivity with lower values in the z-direction.•Microstructural variables determining the thermal transport behavior of selective laser melted H13 included solute atoms, cell/column boundary, retained austenite, melt pool boundary and porosity.•Different heat-treating schedules resulted in different combinations of thermal and mechanical properties, indicating a necessary tradeoff.