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Effect of heat treatment on the recrystallisation of thin-walled stainless steel 316L fabricated by laser beam powder bed fusion
Materials & Design, Volume: 258, Start page: 114592
Swansea University Authors:
Charlie Bevan, Nick Barnard, Robert Lancaster
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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114592
Abstract
Additive Manufacturing (AM), particularly laser beam powder bed fusion (LB-PBF), enables fabrication of complex thin-wall geometries, yet post-processing studies on such structures are limited. This work investigates heat-treatment annealing of thin-walled stainless steel 316L (SS316L) built via LB-...
| Published in: | Materials & Design |
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| ISSN: | 0264-1275 |
| Published: |
Elsevier BV
2025
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70186 |
| Abstract: |
Additive Manufacturing (AM), particularly laser beam powder bed fusion (LB-PBF), enables fabrication of complex thin-wall geometries, yet post-processing studies on such structures are limited. This work investigates heat-treatment annealing of thin-walled stainless steel 316L (SS316L) built via LB-PBF. A novel build geometry with wall thicknesses from 0.2–1.8 mm was used to examine microstructures before and after heat-treatment (HT) at 1050 °C and 1150 °C. In the as-built state, thinner walls showed grains oriented in <001> toward the wall centre, while thicker walls exhibited a <101> orientation due to a central band of preferential grain growth, typical of larger LB-PBF SS316L parts. Annealing at 1150 °C produced partial recrystallisation in all samples, reaching 86 % in the thickest walls, whereas 1050 °C annealing had little effect. Analysis of geometrically necessary dislocation density, low-angle boundaries (LAB), and high-angle boundaries (HAB) showed no correlation with recrystallisation behaviour. The primary factor limiting recrystallisation was Mn- and Si-based oxide distributions, which impeded grain boundary migration. This caused a stop-and-go growth mechanism, leading to abnormal grain growth in some cases. Findings highlight that chemical segregation, rather than dislocation structure, controls recrystallisation in thin-walled LB-PBF SS316L. |
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| Keywords: |
Laser beam powder bed fusion (LB-BPF); Stainless steel 316L (SS316L); Post-processing; Heat-treatment (HT); Recrystallisation |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
The current research was solely funded by Rolls-Royce plc. The provision of a research bursary, materials, and supporting information from Rolls-Royce plc. is gratefully acknowledged. |
| Start Page: |
114592 |