Enhanced Mechanical Properties for 304L Stainless Steel Parts Fabricated by Laser-Foil-Printing Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

In this study we demonstrate that the mechanical properties of 304L stainless steel (304L SS) parts fabricated by the laser-foil-printing (LFP) additive manufacturing process can be enhanced as compared to parts fabricated by the selective laser melting (SLM) technology. The tensile test results indicate that the LFP fabricated parts achieve ⁻15% and ⁻10% higher in yield strength and ultimate tensile strength, respectively, compared to the SLM fabricated parts. This is mainly because the use of foil feedstock in LFP leads to a higher cooling rate during the solidification of molten metal than the use of powder bed in SLM, due to higher thermal conductivity in foils than powders. By using electron backscattered diffraction it is confirmed that the LFP parts have finer grain structures than the SLM parts, implying a higher cooling rate in LFP. The LFP process also produces metal parts with an average oxygen content about 75% less than those by the SLM process, due to ⁻10 times of surface area per unit volume in powders than foils.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Comments

This work was supported by the Department of Energy [grant number DE-FE0012272 ] as well as by the Keith and Pat Bailey Professorship fund from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Keywords and Phrases

304L stainless steel; Additive manufacturing; Laser-foil-printing; Mechanical properties; Selective laser melting

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1526-6125

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Sep 2019

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