Fracture Analysis of 316L Steel Samples Manufactured by Selective Laser Melting

Charpy impact and single edge notch bend, SEN(B), fracture tests have been performed on samples manufactured from selective laser melting 316L steel powder. Samples have been built in two orientations such that the crack plane was either parallel to the build layers (vertical) or normal to the build layers (horizontal). Generally it has been found that the fracture resistance of the horizontal samples is a factor of 3 higher than the vertical samples and that toughness has been consistently improved with heat treatment for the horizontal samples. However, from the limited number of tests performed, no affirmative trends were seen for the impact and fracture resistance of the vertical samples after heat treatment. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.