Correlation between mechanical behaviour and microstructural features of AISI 316L produced by SLM

The Additive Manufacturing (AM) process is nowadays considered a valid alternative to produce complex shape components in AISI316L stainless steel. Although many manufacturers consider additive manufacturing a fast and economical production method compared to traditional ones, there are still problems regarding the mechanical behaviour of components obtained with rapid prototyping. The purpose of this work is to investigate the difference in mechanical behaviour between AISI316L obtained with the traditional method and that obtained by Selective Laser Melting. In order to obtain a correlation among mechanical behaviour and microstructure, static tensile tests, monitoring the energy release of the material, were performed. Failure analysis was carried out by means of optical and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM/EDS). Furthermore, the composition and crystal structure were analysed by XRF and XRD. Differences between traditional and AM material were highlighted, both from energy release and microstructure point of view.