Filament extrusion-based additive manufacturing of 316L stainless steel: Effects of sintering conditions on the microstructure and mechanical properties

Filament extrusion-based additive manufacturing of metals offers an alternative to the widespread beam-based counterparts. The microstructure obtained from extrusion-based techniques differs greatly from the ones obtained by beam-based additive manufacturing, as a sintering process is used, in contrast to the rapid solidification of a melt pool. In this study, the microstructure of 316L stainless steel fabricated by filament extrusion is investigated as a function of debinding and sintering conditions. High-speed nanoindentation correlated with energy-dispersive X-ray mapping is employed for microstructural characterization.
High sintering temperatures of 1350 °C, an atmosphere of pure H₂, and a cooling rate of 60 K/m are found to result in the optimal microstructure. High densities are obtained due to accelerated densification, enabled by the introduction of diffusion paths due to δ-ferrite formation. At the same time, hard phases like oxides or σ-precipitates with detrimental effects on the mechanical properties can be avoided. It is shown that the porosity can be quantified by analysis of hardness and modulus data from nanoindentation mapping. The values obtained are in good agreement with optical and Archimedes immersion method measurements. Tensile tests of 3D-printed and sintered specimens show excellent ductility and strength in comparison to literature. We demonstrate that 3D printing of 316L filaments and sintering with the optimized conditions results in material properties comparable to bulk values.