Micromechanical Tension Testing of Additively Manufactured 17-4 PH Stainless Steel Specimens

This study presents a methodology for the rapid fabrication and micro-tensile testing of additively manufactured (AM) 17-4PH stainless steels by combining photolithography, wet-etching, focused ion beam (FIB) milling, and modified nanoindentation. Detailed procedures for proper sample surface preparation, photo-resist placement, etchant preparation, and FIB sequencing are described herein to allow for high throughput (rapid) specimen fabrication from bulk AM 17-4PH stainless steel volumes. Additionally, procedures for the nano-indenter tip modification to allow tensile testing are presented and a representative micro specimen is fabricated and tested to failure in tension. Tensile-grip-to-specimen alignment and sample engagement were the main challenges of the micro-tensile testing; however, by reducing the indenter tip dimensions, alignment and engagement between the tensile grip and specimen were improved. Results from the representative micro-scale in situ SEM tensile test indicate a single slip plane specimen fracture (typical of a ductile single crystal failure), differing from macro-scale AM 17-4PH post-yield tensile behavior.