Effects of laser additive manufacturing on microstructure and crystallographic texture of austenitic and martensitic stainless steels

Abstract

Powder-fed laser additive manufacturing (LAM) based on directed energy deposition (DED) technology is used to produce S316-L austenitic, and S410-L martensitic stainless steel structures by 3D-printing through a layer-upon-layer fashion. The microstructural features and crystallographic textural components are studied via electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) analysis, hardness indentation and tensile testing. The results are compared with commercial rolled sheets of austenitic and martensitic stainless steels. A well-developed <200> direction solidification texture (with a J-index of ∼11.5) is observed for the austenitic structure produced by the LAM process, compared to a J-index of ∼2.0 for the commercial austenitic rolled sheet. Such a texture in the LAM process is caused by equiaxed grain formation in the middle of each layer followed by columnar growth during layer-upon-layer deposition. A quite strong preferred orientation (J-index of 17.5) is noticed for martensitic steel developed by LAM. Large laths of martensite exhibit a dominant textural component of {011}<111> in the α-phase, which is mainly controlled by transformation during layer-by-layer deposition. On the other hand, the martensitic commercial sheet consists of equiaxed grains without any preferred orientation or completely random orientations. In the case of the austenitic steel, mechanical properties such as tensile strength, hardness and ductility were severely deteriorated during the LAM deposition. A ductility loss of about 50% is recorded compared to the commercially rolled sheets that is attributed to the cast/solidified structure. However, LAM manufacturing of martensitic stainless steel structures leads to a considerably enhanced mechanical strength (more than double) at the expense of reduced ductility, because of martensitic phase transformations under higher cooling rates.