Decarburization of stainless steel during selective laser melting and its influence on Young's modulus, hardness and tensile strength

Stainless steel was investigated in terms of the evolution mechanism of chemical elements during selective laser melting. It was found that 21% carbon was lost and the decarburization occurred. The carbon-gradient structure contributes to a low Young's Modulus and hardness in molten pool boundary and also anisotropic tensile properties. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.