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Effect of Heat Treatment on Microstructures and Mechanical Behaviors of 316L Stainless Steels Synthesized by Selective Laser Melting

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Abstract

In this work, 316L austenite stainless steels were fabricated by the selective laser melting (SLM) technique, and the as-printed samples were then treated by using two various routines, namely the intercritical annealing (IA) and the deep cryogenic treatment (DCT), respectively. Microstructural characterization, nanoindentation creep tests as well as tensile experiments were also performed on the achieved specimens to evaluate the effect brought by the various heat treatment routines. It is found that DCT treatment produces a finer microstructure with higher quantity of homogenous tiny precipitates, compared with the as-printed SLM and single IA counterparts. Such microstructure of the DCT specimen leads to a desirable indentation creep resistance at room temperature as well as a good mechanical performance on tension. In addition, applying a prior deep cryogenic treatment before the intercritical annealing brings more positive effects on the mechanical properties than only using IA. The result indicates that the DCT routine is definitely considerably beneficial for fabricating reliable metallic products fabricated by selective laser melting, and it provides an efficient alternative in real manufactures as well.

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Funding

This work was finance d by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan province (Grant No. 2019JJ60062).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Light Alloy, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China

    Quanqing Zeng

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China

    Kefu Gan

  3. Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education of Nonferrous Metals, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China

    Quanqing Zeng & Yin Wang

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  1. Quanqing Zeng
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Correspondence to Kefu Gan.

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Zeng, Q., Gan, K. & Wang, Y. Effect of Heat Treatment on Microstructures and Mechanical Behaviors of 316L Stainless Steels Synthesized by Selective Laser Melting. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 30, 409–422 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-05330-7

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