Effect of post-weld heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of laser-welded joints of SLM-316 L/rolled-316 L

Connecting small pieces of parts manufactured by Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and traditional formed parts into large structural component by using welding technology provides a high-efficiency and low-cost way for expanding additive manufacturing technology. SLMed parts usually exhibit similar or superior tensile strength but lower ductility compared to that of cast or rolled ones due to the rapid cooling and cyclic heating deposition characteristics. What about the weldability of the dissimilar joints of SLMed parts and rolled ones? Whether the properties of the welded joints can be improved by heat treatment under the premise of ensuring the reliability of the joint is unclear. The weldability and the effect of heat treatment temperature on the microstructure and properties of laser-welded joints of SLM-316 L/rolled-316 L are studied in this article. The results show that the joints exhibit good weldability without obvious defects. The low temperature annealing treatment had no significant effect on the multilayered structure and columnar austenite grains, but only changed the morphology and content of ferrite within the grains leading to the slight increase of elongation but decrease of material strength. The corrosion performance was almost unaffected. After solution annealing above 1,000°C, the ferrite was nearly dissolved in the austenite matrix. The austenite recrystallized and the multilayered structure was destroyed, which resulted in decrease of material strength, a slightly improvement in corrosion resistance, and the elongation was greatly enhanced. After the detailed study, it was concluded that the post-weld heat treatment provided an effective way for improving the overall performance of the SLM-316 L/rolled-316 L dissimilar joint.