Effect of Printing Parameters on the Structure and Properties of 316l Stainless Steel

The emergence of 3D-printing provides the flexibility of 316L stainless steel alloy parts for various structural applications. Although several studies have been done on the effect of parameters on structure and properties, little attention has been paid to the high-strain rate deformation behaviour of this material. Therefore, in the current studies, the effect of printing parameters and the build orientation on the microstructure and high strain rate properties of 3D-printed 316L stainless steel alloy was investigated. In this study, the effect of the individual printing parameters on the boundaries as well as the spatial distribution of sub grains structures were established. There was anisotropy with the high strain rate behaviour, the perpendicular surface exhibited high maximum flow stress with a low strain whereas the parallel surface had lower maximum flow stress with a high strain. For the individual printing parameters, any combination of parameters that gives a finer microstructure showed higher flow stress with a low strain. Also, printing parameter sets that resulted in a coarse structure exhibited lower maximum flow stress and a higher strain. The observations from this study show that the orientation of the process induced pores affect the high strain compressive load of additively manufactured 316L stainless steel.