Laser welding of additively manufactured 316L stainless steel fabricated with different building orientations
Khedr, Mahmoud; Abdelghany, Ahmed W.; Elsayed, Mohamed; Gaafer, A. M.; Järvenpää, Antti; Hamada, Atef (2026-01-28)
Springer
28.01.2026
Khedr, M., Abdelghany, A.W., Elsayed, M. et al. Laser welding of additively manufactured 316L stainless steel fabricated with different building orientations. Weld World (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-026-02350-0
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© The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202602131769
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202602131769
Tiivistelmä
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of building orientation on mechanical behavior and microstructure evolution of laser-welded joints in additively manufactured 316L stainless steel. Sheets with a thickness of 2.5 mm were fabricated using laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) technique at 0°, 45°, and 90° orientations, then laser welded in directions parallel, inclined at 45°, and perpendicular to the build layers, denoted as WJ0D, WJ45D, and WJ90D, respectively. Mechanical performance was evaluated through tensile testing and micro-indentation hardness measurements, while fracture morphology was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Microstructural evolution was characterized using laser microscopy and extensive electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis. The results revealed that the base metals exhibited predominantly austenitic microstructures regardless of the building orientation; however, strength and ductility varied significantly with printing orientation change. The welded joints displayed orientation-dependent differences in fusion zone (FZ) and heat-affected zone characteristics as well as hardness values. FZ widths of approximately 0.55, 0.50, and 0.40 mm were measured for WJ90D, WJ45D, and WJ0D, respectively, with corresponding hardness values of 180 ± 16, 197 ± 13, and 222 ± 9 HV. Tensile testing indicated that WJ0D achieved the highest joint efficiency of 99.7%. EBSD analysis revealed a high Σ3 twin boundary fraction of 27.9% in WJ0D, which correlated with its superior mechanical performance. Fractographic analysis through SEM confirmed ductile fracture behavior across all joints, as characterized by the presence of dimple features.
This study investigates the effect of building orientation on mechanical behavior and microstructure evolution of laser-welded joints in additively manufactured 316L stainless steel. Sheets with a thickness of 2.5 mm were fabricated using laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) technique at 0°, 45°, and 90° orientations, then laser welded in directions parallel, inclined at 45°, and perpendicular to the build layers, denoted as WJ0D, WJ45D, and WJ90D, respectively. Mechanical performance was evaluated through tensile testing and micro-indentation hardness measurements, while fracture morphology was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Microstructural evolution was characterized using laser microscopy and extensive electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis. The results revealed that the base metals exhibited predominantly austenitic microstructures regardless of the building orientation; however, strength and ductility varied significantly with printing orientation change. The welded joints displayed orientation-dependent differences in fusion zone (FZ) and heat-affected zone characteristics as well as hardness values. FZ widths of approximately 0.55, 0.50, and 0.40 mm were measured for WJ90D, WJ45D, and WJ0D, respectively, with corresponding hardness values of 180 ± 16, 197 ± 13, and 222 ± 9 HV. Tensile testing indicated that WJ0D achieved the highest joint efficiency of 99.7%. EBSD analysis revealed a high Σ3 twin boundary fraction of 27.9% in WJ0D, which correlated with its superior mechanical performance. Fractographic analysis through SEM confirmed ductile fracture behavior across all joints, as characterized by the presence of dimple features.
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