Influence of laser power on microstructure of laser metal deposited 17-4 ph stainless steel

Abstract

The influence of laser power on the microstructure of 17-4 PH stainless steel produced by laser metal deposition was investigated. Multiple-trackof 17-4 stainless steel powder was deposited on 316 stainless steel substrate using laser metal deposition, an additive manufacturing process. In this research, laser power was varied between 1.0 kW and 2.6 kW with scanning speed fixed at 1.2 m/s. The powder flow rate and the gas flow rate were also kept constant at values of 5 g/min and 2 l/min respectively. The microstructure was studied under optical microscope and it revealed that the microstructure was dendritic in structure with finer and lesser δ-ferriteat low laser power while the appearance of coarse and more δ-ferriteare seen at higher laser power.