from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
This work deals with the study of structure and physical properties of 316 L austenitic stainless steel prepared by additive manufacturing and subsequently processed by the technology of rotary swaging. The semi-finished products were printed on a Renishaw 3D printing machine using the SLM (Selective Laser Melting) method, during which the metal powder is gradually sintered via cladding of individual layers using a powerful laser. Subsequently, room temperature rotary swaging was applied to enhance the structure and properties of the SLM-manufactured semi-product. The structural analyses showed that the swaging process imparted significant refinement of the average grain size, which decreased down to approx. 1.3 µm (measured as the maximum feret diameter). As regards the physical properties, the density of the as-printed, as well as swaged, samples was measured using a pycnometer. As a result of forming, better material properties, such as increased density and improved hardness, were achieved. To confirm the advantages of the proposed approach consisting of a combination of 3D printing and deformation processing, all the results were compared with those acquired for an identical stainless steel prepared by conventional casting.
Keywords: 316L stainless steel, additive manufacturing (SLM), rotary swaging, density, microstructure© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.