Publications

Microstructures of laser deposited 304L austenitic stainless steel

Headley, Thomas J.; Robino, Charles V.; Headley, Thomas J.

Laser deposits fabricated from two different compositions of 304L stainless steel powder were characterized to determine the nature of the solidification and solid state transformations. One of the goals of this work was to determine to what extent novel microstructure consisting of single-phase austenite could be achieved with the thermal conditions of the LENS [Laser Engineered Net Shape] process. Although ferrite-free deposits were not obtained, structures with very low ferrite content were achieved. It appeared that, with slight changes in alloy composition, this goal could be met via two different solidification and transformation mechanisms.