Research on Mechanical Characteristics of Parts Made of 316L Stainless Steel (Material) by Using Selective Laser Melting Technology

Abstract

Additive manufacturing technologies present several advantages over the conventional technologies, like the high flexibility, an easy and fast path to manufacture parts from the CAD file and it is appropriate for manufacturing parts with complex shapes, which are hard or impossible to manufacture with conventional technology. Selective Laser Melting is an Additive Manufacturing technology, suitable for manufacturing metal parts, using a powder that is melted in the desired areas. However, the technology is mostly used for prototyping and one of a kind parts manufacturing, due to relatively high cost and limitations in the dimensions of the parts. This paper aims to study if the properties of the Selective Laser Melted 316L, stainless steel are feasible for manufacturing a part for the automotive industry, specifically brake discs with complex internal structures. Tensile and compressing specimens are manufactured using the Selective Laser Melting technology, to determine the ultimate tensile strength, elongation, and porosity, using computer tomography. The results show that a 99.99% density is achieved, which indicates that the characteristics of the material are not influenced by the porosity and using this technology is suitable for manufacturing brake discs for the automotive industry.