In this work, the microstructural features and mechanical properties of an additively manufactured 316L stainless steel have been determined. Three types of samples were characterized: (i) as printed (AP), (ii) annealing heat treated (AHT), and (iii) hot isostatic pressed and annealing heat treated (HIP + AHT). Microstructural analysis reveals that the AP sample formed melt pool boundaries with nano-scale cellular structures. These structures disappeared after annealing heat treatment and hot isostatic pressing. The AP and AHT samples have similar grain morphologies; however, the latter has a lower dislocation density and contains precipitates. Conversely, the HIP + AHT sample displays polygon-shaped grains with twin structures; a completely different morphology compared to the first two samples. Optical micrography reveals that the application of hot isostatic pressing reduces the porosity generated after laser processing. The tensile strengths of all the samples are comparable (about 600 MPa); however, the elongation of the HIP + AHT sample (48%) was superior to that of other two samples. The enhanced ductility of the HIP + AHT sample, however, resulted in lower yield strength. Based on these findings, annealing heat treatment after hot isostatic pressing was found to improve the ductility of as-printed 316L stainless steel by as much as 130%, without sacrificing tensile strength, but the sample may have a reduced (40%) yield strength. The tensile strength determined here has been shown to be higher than that of the hot isostatic pressed, additively manufactured 316L stainless steel available from the literature.

In this work, the microstructure and mechanical properties of an additively manufactured X3NiCoMoTi18-9-5 maraging steel were determined. Optical and electron microscopies revealed the formation of melt pool boundaries and epitaxial grain growth with cellular dendritic structures after the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process. The cooling rate is estimated to be around 10⁶ °C/s during solidification, which eliminates the nucleation of any precipitates. However, it allows the formation of austenite with a volume fraction of about 5% and dendritic structures with primary arm spacing of 0.41 ± 0.23 µm. The electron backscatter diffraction analysis showed the formation of elongated grains with significant low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs). Then, a solutionizing treatment was applied to the as-printed samples to dissolve all the secondary phases, followed by aging treatment. The reverted austenite was evident after heat treatment, which transformed into martensite after tensile testing. The critical plastic stresses for this transformation were determined using the double differentiation method. The tensile strength of the alloy increased from 1214 MPa to 2106 MPa after the aging process due to the formation of eta phase. The experimental data were complemented with thermodynamic and mechanical properties simulations, which showed a discrepancy of less than 3%.