Additively manufactured (AM) metallic materials commonly possess substantial microscale internal stresses that manifest as intergranular and intragranular residual stresses. However, the impact of these residual stresses on the mechanical behaviour of AM materials remains unexplored. Here we combine in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments and computational modelling to quantify the lattice strains in different families of grains with specific orientations and associated intergranular residual stresses in an AM 316L stainless steel under uniaxial tension. We measure pronounced tension–compression asymmetries in yield strength and work hardening for as-printed stainless steel, and show they are associated with back stresses originating from heterogeneous dislocation distributions and resultant intragranular residual stresses. We further report that heat treatment relieves microscale residual stresses, thereby reducing the tension–compression asymmetries and altering work-hardening behaviour. This work establishes the mechanistic connections between the microscale residual stresses and mechanical behaviour of AM stainless steel.

Significance: The efficient utilization of electrical energy is an increasingly important challenge, especially as renewable energy sources become cheaper and demand increases. Electrochemical reactors utilizing flow-through electrodes (FTEs) provide an attractive path toward the efficient utilization of electrical energy. Their commercial viability and ultimate adoption hinge on attaining high current densities to drive cost competitiveness. There are limited opportunities for engineering FTE materials, as these are often random, disordered media. Alternatively, three-dimensional (3D)–printed FTEs provide the opportunity to quickly explore the impact of engineered electrode architectures on device performance. We demonstrate that 3D-printed FTEs have the potential to exceed the performance of conventional materials by using the expanded design freedom to engineer the internal flow.