Crystallographic orientation control of 316L austenitic stainless steel via selective laser melting

In recent years, additive manufacturing has attracted attention as a technology that enables control of the crystallographic texture of metallic materials. We achieved successful control of the crystallographic texture of 316L austenitic stainless steel using selective laser melting (SLM). Three distinguished textures were achieved by changing the laser scan speed, namely: the single crystalline-like texture with {001} orientation in the build direction, the crystallographic lamellar texture in which two kinds of grains with {011} and {001} orientations in the build direction are alternately stacked, and polycrystalline with relatively random orientation. The melt pool shape and the solidification behavior (thermal gradient and migration velocity of solid/liquid interface) in a melt pool could be important controlling factors for the evolution of the crystallographic texture under the SLM process.