Influences of horizontal and vertical build orientations and post-fabrication processes on the fatigue behavior of stainless steel 316l produced by selective laser melting
Abstract
In this paper, the influences of build orientation and post-fabrication processes, including stress-relief, machining, and shot-peening, on the fatigue behavior of stainless steel (SS) 316L manufactured using selective laser melting (SLM) are studied. It was found that horizontally-built (XY) and machined (M) test pieces, which had not been previously studied in the literature, in both stress-relieved (SR) or non-stress-relieved (NSR) conditions show superior fatigue behavior compared to vertically-built (ZX) and conventionally-manufactured SS 316L. The XY, M, and SR (XY-M-SR) test pieces displayed fatigue behavior similar to the XY-M-NSR test pieces, implying that SR does not have a considerable effect on the fatigue behavior of XY and M test pieces. ZX-M-SR test pieces, due to their considerably lower ductility, exhibited significantly larger scatter and a lower fatigue strength compared to ZX-M-NSR samples. Shot-peening (SP) displayed a positive effect on improving the fatigue behavior of the ZX-NSR test pieces due to a compressive stress of 58 MPa induced on the surface of the test pieces. Fractography of the tensile and fatigue test pieces revealed a deeper understanding of the relationships between the process parameters, microstructure, and mechanical properties for SS 316L produced by laser systems. For example, fish-eye fracture pattern or spherical stair features were not previously observed or explained for cyclically-loaded SLM-printed parts in the literature. This study provides comprehensive insight into the anisotropy of the static and fatigue properties of SLM-printed parts, as well as the pre- and post-fabrication parameters that can be employed to improve the fatigue behavior of steel alloys manufactured using laser systems.Citation
Wood, P., Libura, T., Kowalewski, Z.L., Williams, G. and Serjouei, A., (2019). 'Influences of Horizontal and Vertical Build Orientations and Post-Fabrication Processes on the Fatigue Behavior of Stainless Steel 316L Produced by Selective Laser Melting'. Materials, 12(24), pp. 1-19.Publisher
MDPI AGJournal
MaterialsDOI
10.3390/ma12244203Type
ArticleLanguage
enEISSN
1996-1944ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3390/ma12244203
Scopus Count
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/