Deformation behavior of additive manufactured 316 L stainless steel using in situ neutron diffraction

Abstract

Abstract Manufacturing of metallic components using additive manufacturing technique is of great interest for the industrial applications. Here, the mechanical and microstructural responses of a 316 L stainless steel (316LSS) built by selective laser melting (SLM) with XOY and XOZ directions were revealed by performing in situ neutron diffraction tensile tests. The tensile strength of the XOY-printed samples reaches 700 MPa, while the tensile strength of the XOZ-printed samples is less than 600 MPa. The as-printed 316LSS exhibits anisotropy in tensile property due to the formation of different fractions of nano-sized dimples, twin boundaries, diffraction peak and lattice constants during tensile tests at room temperature. Therefore, choosing right printing direction plays a vital role in forming of metal parts using SLM for further application.

Keywords

• Additive manufacturing
• Selective laser melting
• 316L stainless steel
• Microstructural and mechanical properties
• Deformation behavior