Mechanical Properties, Metallurgical Characteristics and Anisotropy of Additive Manufacturing of 316L

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM), while enabling the production of parts with complex geometries, presents new challenges. In particular, the achievement of the basic mechanical properties of the alloy must be ensured. In general, the strength-ductility properties of metals depend strongly on their microstructure, and controlling these properties requires paying attention to the alloy composition, processing technique and heat treatments. Austenite 316L stainless steel parts produced by AM demonstrate good ductility and high yield strength—higher than that obtained with annealed 316L. Some preferred orientation of the mechanical properties was found as a function of the laser path, namely, the Young’s modulus varied with respect to the angle between the build direction and the normal to the build direction. In the present study, samples of AM 316L in three orientations relative to the print direction (0 ˚ , 45 ˚ and 90 ˚ ) are compared to a forged sample. Mechanical properties, scanning electron microscopy-SEM fractography, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope-EDS analysis of the fracture and optical cross section images of the samples along the stress tension after the failure are presented.