Better Marine Grade Stainless Steel Through 3D Printing http://ift.tt/2hqMsx0 It takes a special kind of material to be able to hold up in a marine setting, with its harsh conditions and corrosive environment. So-called marine grade stainless steel is commonly used in maritime applications because it can handle those conditions. Its resistance to corrosion and its ductility, or ability to bend without breaking, make it a valued material in not only that industry but several others, including oil and gas, medical equipment and more. There’s one issue, though – the techniques used to strengthen the material typically reduce its ductility. A group of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Ames National Laboratory, Georgia Tech University, and Oregon State University have successfully 3D printed one of the most common forms of marine grade stainless steel, called 316L, in such a way that both strength and ductility are retained. The research was published in an article entitled “Additively manufactured hierarchical stainless steels with high strength and ductility,” which you can access here.
Before they could successfully 3D print the stainless steel, the researchers had to overcome one major obstacle of metal 3D printing: porosity. Porosity is a common issue that occurs during laser melting and that can cause parts to easily degrade and fracture. To overcome this, the scientists created a density optimization process through experimentation and computer modeling, and worked to manipulate the materials’ underlying microstructure.
The team used two different laser powder bed fusion 3D printers to print thin plates of the stainless steel for mechanical testing. This created hierarchical cell-like structures that could be tuned to alter the mechanical properties of the steel.
According to LLNL postdoc researcher Thomas Voisin, the work could shine new light on the structure-property relationship of 3D printed materials.
Wang said that years of simulation, modeling and experimentation went into the research in order to understand the link between microstructure and mechanical properties. The stainless steel they worked with, he said, can be considered a “surrogate material” system that could be applied to other types of metals. Eventually, they want to use high-performance computing to validate and predict future performance of stainless steel, using models to control the underlying microstructure. They hope to learn how to make high-performance, corrosion-resistant steels and then use similar methods with other lighter-weight alloys that are prone to cracking and brittleness. Contributors to the paper include Y. Morris Wang, Thomas Voisin, Joseph T. McKeown, Jianchao Ye, Nicholas P. Calta, Zan Li, Zhi Zeng, Yin Zhang, Wen Chen, Tien Tran Roehling, Ryan T. Ott, Melissa K. Santala, Philip J. Depond, Manyalibo J. Matthews, Alex V. Hamza and Ting Zhu. Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. [Source: LLNL/ Images: Kate Hunts/LLNL]
Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 31, 2017 at 09:37AM
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