On the Influence of Manufacturing Parameters on the Microstructure, Mechanical Properties and Corrosion Resistance of AISI 316L Steel Deposited by Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS®)

Samples of 316L SS were manufactured by Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS (R)) using different technological parameters. The deposited samples were investigated in terms of microstructure, mechanical properties, phase content and corrosion resistance (salt chamber and electrochemical corrosion). Parameters were chosen to obtain a proper sample built for layer thicknesses of 0.2, 0.4 and 0.7 mm by changing the laser feed rate while keeping the powder feed rate constant. After a comprehensive analysis of the results, it was found that the manufacturing parameters slightly affected the resulting microstructure and also had a minor impact (almost undetectable considering the uncertainty of the measurement) on the mechanical properties of samples. Decreases in resistance to electrochemical pitting corrosion and environmental corrosion with an increased feed rate and a decrease in layer thickness and grain size were observed; however, all additively manufactured samples were found to be less prone to corrosion than the reference material. In the investigated processing window, no influence of deposition parameters on the phase content of the final product was found-all the samples were found to possess austenitic microstructure with almost no detectable ferrite.