Influence of Size Design on Microstructure and Properties of 304L Stainless Steel by Selective Laser Melting

doi:10.11900/0412.1961.2021.00248

Acta Metall Sin

2023, Vol. 59

Issue (5): 623-635 DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2021.00248

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Influence of Size Design on Microstructure and Properties of 304L Stainless Steel by Selective Laser Melting

HOU Juan¹^,²(

), DAI Binbin², MIN Shiling², LIU Hui², JIANG Menglei², YANG Fan²

¹State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Power Safety Monitoring Technology and Equipment, China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd., Shenzhen 518172, China
²Academy of Materials and Chemistry, University of Shanghai Science and Technology, Shanghai 200082, China

Cite this article:

HOU Juan, DAI Binbin, MIN Shiling, LIU Hui, JIANG Menglei, YANG Fan. Influence of Size Design on Microstructure and Properties of 304L Stainless Steel by Selective Laser Melting. Acta Metall Sin, 2023, 59(5): 623-635.

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Abstract

As one of the most promising metal additive manufacturing methods, selective laser melting (SLM) is very attractive for fabricating complex-shaped structure components of austenitic stainless steels in the nuclear field. SLMed austenitic 304L stainless steel has been demonstrated to have excellent mechanical properties and superior corrosion resistance due to the unique hierarchical microstructure produced by the ultrafast cooling rate and high-thermal gradient. Scanning tracks (T) and depositing layers (L) are key factors for geometry design by affecting the processing efficiency and the solidification structure of the components. Hence, it is essential to clarify the effecting mechanism of sample size and geometry on material performance. In this work, samples of different sizes are designed to study the influence of geometry on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 304L stainless steel components made via SLM. Various solidification conditions are achieved by varying the temperature gradients and cooling rates by adjusting T and L. Metallographic microscopic observations in samples with various T × L combinations demonstrate that a columnar structure is formed along the build direction, which is significantly impacted by the geometry effect. The columnar grains grow preferentially along the heat dissipation direction with an increase in the sample size. The columnar grains gradually change from having a low length-diameter ratio (LDR) with a rice grain shape to a higher LDR with a short rod-like shape and then a long strip shape. Grain coarsening could also be identified along with the formation of “long strip” columnar grains. Moreover, consistent microstructure evolution behavior is observed in large-sized samples. The influence of geometry on the mechanical properties is examined via tensile testing to demonstrate the decrease in yield strength and increased plastic elongation with the rise in sample size. As the sample size increases, the mechanical properties become consistent. The comprehensive analysis concludes that grain size and columnar grains play critical roles in determining the mechanical properties according to the Hall-Petch relationship. In larger-sized samples, “long strip” columnar grains with a high proportion could lead to a decrease in material strength and an increase in plasticity. The geometry mechanism affecting the solidification process, microstructure formation, and mechanical properties of 304L stainless steel processed by SLM is explored by combining the solidification rate and thermal gradient simulation results using ANSYS ADDITIVE.

Key words: selective laser melting 304L stainless steel build geometry solidification theory mechanical property

Received: 18 June 2021

ZTFLH:

TG142.7

Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(52073176);Shenzhen International Cooperation Research Science and Technology Program(GJHZ20200731095203011);State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Power Safety Monitoring Technology and Equipment Opening Project(CSO-102-001)

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	HOU Juan
	DAI Binbin
	MIN Shiling
	LIU Hui
	JIANG Menglei
	YANG Fan

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https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2021.00248 OR https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2023/V59/I5/623

Fig.1 Morphology of the gas-atomized powders-304L for selective laser melting (SLM) (a) and schematic of printing composing (b) (T represents scanning track, L represents depositing layer)

Table 1 Chemical compositions of 304L stainless steel powder and SLM 304L stainless steel

Table 2 Abbreviations of different dimensional samples

Fig.2 Scanning strategies of rotation angle of 67° between adjacent layers (a) and “skywriting” scan mode along the set scanning path (b)

Fig.3 Tensile test specimen (unit: mm) (a) and schematic of SLM (b)

Fig.4 Low (a, c) and high (b, d) magnified OM images of SLM 304L ‘fish scale’ morphology (a) and columnar grains (b) with melt pool boundary on longitudinal plane, and laser exposure traces (c) and equiaxed grains (d) on horizontal plane

Fig.5 OM images of SLM 304L stainless steel samples with different T × L sizes along the building direction
(a) T1-L5 (b) T2-L5 (c) T20-L10 (d) T20-L100 (e) T20-L700 (f) T20-L1000

Fig.6 OM images of microstructures of T100 series samples in SLM 304L stainless steel
(a) T100-L100 (b) T100-L500 (c) T100-700 (d) T100-L1000

Table 3 Statistical results of grain size and columnar crystal morphology of T100 series samples

Fig.7 OM images of microstructures of T200 series samples in SLM 304L stainless steel
(a) T200-L100 (b) T200-L500 (c) T200-700 (d) T200-L1000

Table 4 Statistical results of grain size and columnar crystal morphology of T200 series samples

Fig.8 OM images of microstructures of T300 series samples in SLM 304L stainless steel
(a) T300-L100 (b) T300-L500 (c) T300-700 (d) T300-L1000

Table 5 Statistical results of grain size and columnar crystal morphology of T300 series samples

Fig.9 XRD spectra of T100 (a), T200 (b), and T300 (c) series samples with different sizes

Fig.10 Phase distribution images by EBSD in SLM 304L stainless steel of T300-L100 (a) and T300-L1000 (b)
Color online

Fig.11 Stress-strain curves of L100 (a), T100 (b), T200 (c), and T300 (d) series samples

Table 6 Strengthes and ductilities of SLM 304L samples with different sizes

Table 7 Simulation results of solidification rate (R) and temperature gradient (G) in SLM process

Fig.12 Schematics showing the change of columnar crystal morphology and proportion with the different build geometries
(a) T100-L100
(b) T200-L100
(c) T300-L1000

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