A comparison on the Energy Release between traditional and Additive Manufactured AISI 316L steel during static tensile test

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) allows the creation of mechanical components and biomechanical devices with low weight and reduced material consumption compared to traditional manufacturing techniques. Despite design opportunities increase, on the other hand, also the process parameters to consider when dealing with AM are relevant on the mechanical performance. It is of fundamental importance to assure the structural integrity and reliability of such components. Energy release could give relevant information on the mechanical performance of the material; hence the Static Thermographic Method (STM) has been proposed as a rapid test procedure to assess the initiation of damage within the material monitoring the temperature evolution during static tensile tests. The aim of the present work is to compare the energy release of a stainless steel during static tensile tests. Specimens made of AISI 316L were produced with the same geometry, both with traditional and AM techniques. A comparison on the microstructure has been also performed in order to assess the possible cause of failure under static loads.