Microstructural and Mechanical Property Variations in 316L Stainless Steel Fabricated by Laser Powder Bed Fusion Under High-Density Processing Conditions

It has become a trend to precisely control the additive manufacturing process parameters within the high-density process window to obtain high-performance metal parts. However, there are few reports on this topic currently, leaving this research without sufficient references. This study took 316L austenitic stainless steel as a case study. In total, 36 groups of specimens were manufactured by Laser powder bed melting (LPBF), and then, two highly dense specimens were selected to study the variation in their microstructure and properties. The densities of the selected specimens, S1 (VED = 81 J/mm³) and S2 (VED = 156.3 J/mm³), are 99.68% and 99.99%, respectively. The results indicated that, compared with the S1 specimen, the S2 specimen significantly decreased in terms of yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), and elongation (EL), which are 7.28%, 6.34%, and 19.15%, respectively. The differences in mechanical properties were primarily attributed to differences in their microstructures. Further, compared with the S1 specimen, the fitted ellipse aspect ratio and average grain size of the S2 specimen increased by 79.88% and 53.45%, respectively, and the kernel average misorientation (KAM) value and geometric necessary dislocation (GND) density increased by 36.00% and 58.43%, respectively. Furthermore, the S1 specimen exhibited a strong texture in the <101>//Z direction, whereas no obvious texture was observed in the S2 specimen. Obviously, the reason why precise regulation within the dense parameter range can achieve better performance is that the microstructure and mechanical properties of the specimens prepared within the dense range are different. More importantly, this study provides a feasible framework for optimizing alloys with broad and dense parameter ranges, demonstrating the potential to achieve high-performance components through precise parameter control. Furthermore, the results reveal that even within a wide range of high-density forming parameters, significant variations in microstructure and mechanical properties can arise depending on the selected parameter combinations. These findings underscore the critical importance of meticulous process parameter optimization and microstructural regulation in tailoring material properties.