Strain induced grain growth behavior in laser powder bed fusion fabricated austenitic stainless steel 316L investigated by quasi–in–situ EBSD

•Strain induced grain growth quickly consumes high-strain regions through grain boundaries.•Fine grains form from the uniform activation and growth of strain induced grain growth grains by grain boundaries.•Pre–existing twins facilitate GBs low-mobility GBs in tuning their configuration and local plasticity strain. A strain induced grain growth behaviour in laser powder bed fusion 316L austenitic stainless steel was investigated in this work. The intrinsic characteristics of the samples, such as crystallographic orientations, dislocation density, low angle grain boundaries and twins, were investigated via quasi–in–situ electron backscatter diffraction. Additionally, grain growth during plastic deformation in samples annealed at 800 °C was attributed to the combined influence of pre–existing twins and strain–induced grain boundary migration.