A study of thermal expansion coefficients and microstructure during selective laser melting of Invar 36 and stainless steel 316L

This paper presents an experimental study on the metallurgical issues associated with selective laser melting of Invar 36 and stainless steel 316 L and the resulting coefficient of thermal expansion. Invar 36 has been used in aircraft control systems, electronic devices, optical instruments, and medical instruments that are exposed to significant temperature changes. Stainless steel 316 L is commonly used for applications that require high corrosion resistance in the aerospace, medical, and nuclear industries. Both Invar 36 and stainless steel 316 L are weldable austenitic face-centered cubic crystal structures, but stainless steel 316 L may experience chromium evaporation and Invar 36 may experience weld cracking during the welding process. Various laser process parameters were tested based on a full factorial design of experiments. The microstructure, material composition, coefficient of thermal expansion, and magnetic dipole moment were measured for both materials. It was found that there exists a critical laser energy density for each material, E C, for which selective laser melting process is optimal for material properties. The critical laser energy density provides enough energy to induce stable melting, homogeneous microstructure and chemical composition, resulting in thermal expansion and magnetic properties in line with that expected for the wrought material. Below the critical energy, a lack of fusion due to insufficient melt tracks and discontinuous beads was observed. The melt track was also unstable above the critical energy due to vaporization and microsegregation of alloying elements. Both cases can generate stress risers and part flaws during manufacturing. These flaws could be avoided by finding the critical laser energy needed for each material. The critical laser energy density was determined to be 86.8 J/mm3 for Invar 36 and 104.2 J/mm3 for stainless steel 316 L.