Effect of scan rotation on the microstructure development and mechanical properties of 316L parts produced by laser powder bed fusion

Additive manufacturing possesses appealing features for producing high-performance components, for a wide range of materials. One of these features is the ability to locally tailor the microstructure and in turn, the mechanical properties. This study investigates how the microstructure of stainless steel 316L parts produced by laser powder bed fusion are affected by alternating the laser scan orientation. The microstructure consists of large elongated grains with a fine cell substructure. This study established the correlation between the orientation of this substructure and the crystallographic orientation. The results show that by producing parts without any rotation a quite unique crystallographic orientation can be achieved. The grain structure primarily consisted of large < 101 > oriented grains, that were separated by thin bands of small < 100 > oriented grains with respect to the building direction. As rotation was added these bands were eliminated. Samples that were produced without any rotation generated the highest tensile strength (527 +/- 5.4 MPa), yield strength (449 +/- 2.4 MPa) and ductility (58 +/- 1.3%). The lowest mechanical properties were obtained for samples that were produced using a scan rotation of 67 degrees with the tensile strength of 485 +/- 4.8 MPa, yield strength of 427 +/- 5.4 MPa and ductility of 50 +/- 1.3%. This indicates that cell orientation and crystallographic orientation plays an essential role in the tensile properties of 316L parts produced by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF).