Investigation of the Properties of 316L Stainless Steel after AM and Heat Treatment
Patrik Petroušek,
Tibor Kvačkaj,
Jana Bidulská,
Róbert Bidulský,
Marco Actis Grande,
Diego Manfredi,
Klaus-Peter Weiss,
Róbert Kočiško,
Miloslav Lupták,
Imrich Pokorný
Affiliations
Patrik Petroušek
Department of Plastic Deformation and Simulation Processes, Institute of Materials and Quality Engineering, Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling, Technical University of Kosice, Park Komenského 11, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia
Tibor Kvačkaj
Bodva Industry and Innovation Cluster, Budulov 174, 04501 Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia
Jana Bidulská
Department of Plastic Deformation and Simulation Processes, Institute of Materials and Quality Engineering, Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling, Technical University of Kosice, Park Komenského 11, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia
Róbert Bidulský
Bodva Industry and Innovation Cluster, Budulov 174, 04501 Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia
Marco Actis Grande
Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Viale T. Michel 5, 15121 Alessandria, Italy
Diego Manfredi
Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Polythecnic of Turin, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Klaus-Peter Weiss
Institute for Technical Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
Róbert Kočiško
Department of Plastic Deformation and Simulation Processes, Institute of Materials and Quality Engineering, Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling, Technical University of Kosice, Park Komenského 11, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia
Miloslav Lupták
Department of Plastic Deformation and Simulation Processes, Institute of Materials and Quality Engineering, Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling, Technical University of Kosice, Park Komenského 11, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia
Imrich Pokorný
Department of Plastic Deformation and Simulation Processes, Institute of Materials and Quality Engineering, Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling, Technical University of Kosice, Park Komenského 11, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia
Additive manufacturing, including laser powder bed fusion, offers possibilities for the production of materials with properties comparable to conventional technologies. The main aim of this paper is to describe the specific microstructure of 316L stainless steel prepared using additive manufacturing. The as-built state and the material after heat treatment (solution annealing at 1050 °C and 60 min soaking time, followed by artificial aging at 700 °C and 3000 min soaking time) were analyzed. A static tensile test at ambient temperature, 77 K, and 8 K was performed to evaluate the mechanical properties. The characteristics of the specific microstructure were examined using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The stainless steel 316L prepared using laser powder bed fusion consisted of a hierarchical austenitic microstructure, with a grain size of 25 µm as-built up to 35 µm after heat treatment. The grains predominantly contained fine 300–700 nm subgrains with a cellular structure. It was concluded that after the selected heat treatment there was a significant reduction in dislocations. An increase in precipitates was observed after heat treatment, from the original amount of approximately 20 nm to 150 nm.
