A comparative study of additive manufactured and wrought SS316L: Pre-existing dislocations and grain boundary characteristics

The additively manufactured (AM) SS316L shows superior mechanical properties compared to their conven-tionally manufactured (CM) counterparts. A quantitative comparison is conducted based on the pre-existing dislocations and grain boundary characteristics of AM and CM SS316L, found that the AM possesses more dis-locations and significantly larger portion of low angle grain boundaries, resulting in different effective strengthening mechanisms. Coincident site lattice boundaries, yielding higher strength and better ductility, show much diverse distributions in the AM samples, with only very little Sigma 3. The AM grain boundaries show very distinct behaviors under tensile strain compared to the CM sample. This work conducted in-depth investigations on the strengthening mechanisms and shed a light on grain boundary engineering to further enhance the mechanical properties of AM materials.

Automated summary

This study compares the mechanical properties of additively manufactured (AM) SS316L and conventionally manufactured (CM) SS316L and finds that AM SS316L has more dislocations and low angle grain boundaries, resulting in different strengthening mechanisms. Furthermore, the distribution of coincident site lattice boundaries is more diverse in AM samples. Additionally, the behavior of AM grain boundaries under tensile strain is significantly different from CM samples.