Flexural characteristics of material extrusion steel 316L: Influence of manufacturing parameters
Anirudh Kasha, Solomon O. Obadimu, Kyriakos I. Kourousis
Abstract
This short communication paper reports the effects of manufacturing parameters (raster angle, layer height, and print orientation) on the flexural properties of material extrusion (ME) Ultrafuse Steel 316L. Flexural specimens were produced with four raster angles: ±30°, ±45°, ±75°, and 0°/90°, with each raster angle printed at three layer heights: 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2 mm. The former combinations were of ‘flat’ print orientation, and a limited amount of ‘on-edge’ print orientation specimens were included for a general comparison. Statistical analysis was performed on the flexural strength data. Furthermore, the digital image correlation (DIC) technique was employed to study the deformation modes/mechanisms of the specimens. Comparable flexural strength results were obtained for the two print orientations. However, the ‘on edge’ print orientation specimens outperformed their counterparts. The ±30° raster angled specimens outperformed all other specimens in both the print orientations, recording the highest flexural strengths. Uniform deformation modes of the specimens were evidenced from the DIC analysis, where the effects of internal voids/porosity on subsequent mechanical properties were found to be minor. Overall, the results presented herein will increase confidence in employing the ME process for Steel 316L for applications involving bending loads.