Microstructure and properties of laser welded joint between 316L stainless steel SLMed and forged parts

In this paper,laser welding technology was used to connect 316 L stainless steel SLMed and forged parts. The process optimization was carried out and the microstructure and properties of the joint were studied. The results showed that the joints appeared good laser weldability without obvious defects. Microstructures of the SLMed parts and laser-welded joints consisted of the cellular dendrite in austenite matrix within the columnar grains. Compared with the SLMed parts,the joints exhibited a coarser dendrite microstructure,lower microhardness,tensile properties. Mechanical properties of the joints met the practical application requirements. The anisotropy of SLMed acted a negligible role in determining the microstructure and mechanical properties in the laser-welded joints. The joint obtained by welding SLMed parts parallel to the building direction to forged parts could obtain finer dendrite microstructure and higher tensile properties.