Investigations on the Mechanical Characteristics of the Stainless Steel 316L Alloy Fabricated by Directed Energy Deposition for Repairing Application

The present work aims to adopt the directed energy deposition (DED) technique for repairing the hot rolled steel (HRS) by depositing stainless steel 316L (SS316L) material over the hot rolled steel. The mechanical and microstructural characteristics of the as-built DED sample, HRS sample, and repaired samples are evaluated in the present work. The mechanical characteristics such as microhardness and tensile strength of the repaired samples are studied. A succinct comparison is made between the HRS samples and the as-built DED samples. The ultimate tensile strength of the repaired sample (hybrid sample), HRS sample, and the as-built DED sample is found to be 541, 590, and 598 Mpa, respectively. The DED sample has an average microhardness of 228HV, while the HRS sample has an average microhardness of 215HV, and the average microhardness of the interface region is 236HV. This work clarified the difference in microstructural characteristics of the interface region, as-built DED samples, and HRS samples. The samples repaired by DED process possess required metallurgical bonding, and hence, DED process can be used to repair HRS components.