Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902

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Additive Manufacturing
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/addma

Research Paper

The effect of build direction and heat treatment on atmospheric stress

corrosion cracking of laser powder bed fusion 316L austenitic stainless steel
P. Dong a, F. Vecchiato a, Z. Yang a, P.A. Hooper b, M.R. Wenman a, *
a
Department of Materials and Centre for Nuclear Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Austenitic stainless steels are susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) when exposed to chloride ions and
Laser powder bed fusion tensile stresses. For laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) components, high residual tensile stresses exist from the large
316L thermal gradients during solidification. While post fabrication heat treatments can relieve residual stresses, their
Stress corrosion cracking
effectiveness in improving SCC resistance of LPBF material is undetermined. The effects of different heat
Chloride
treatments (i.e. temperature and cooling method) and build orientations on SCC susceptibility of LPBF 316L were
Heat treatment
explored. Samples were exposed to MgCl2 and maintained at 75 ◦ C and 70% RH for the test duration. Cracks were
highly branched and propagated perpendicularly to build direction even in the presence of an applied perpen­
dicular 60 MPa stress. Vertical as-built specimens exhibited higher cracking densities than horizontal ones, due to
higher surface residual stresses. SCC and corrosion favoured one side for horizontal specimens while the dis­
tribution was random for vertical specimens. After 750 ◦ C (2 h, furnace cooled) heat treatment, SCC susceptibility
reduced for vertical 316L but increased for horizontal 316L. This was attributed to competing effects: reduction
in residual surface tensile stresses (beneficial) and loss of non-equilibrium microstructure (detrimental).
Encapsulation to prevent oxidation during heat treatment negatively impacted SCC resistance of LPBF 316L,
likely due to changes to surface oxide condition. No SCC was observed after 900 ◦ C (0.5 h) heat treatments within
the test duration, however, pitting corrosion persisted.

1. Introduction velocities, dendritic structures similar to that of welds can be expected

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a common additive manufacturing
technique for the fabrication of metallic components. The main benefits
of LPBF compared to conventional forging techniques are the ability to
produce complex structures, lower production cost (moulds are no
longer required) and material efficiency (traditional processes usually
require removal of excess material, while with additive manufacturing,
near net shapes are produced) [1,2]. Compared to traditional forged
material, additively manufactured austenitic SS possess significantly
different microstructural and mechanical properties [3–5]. LPBF 316L
have been reported in literature to have lower ductility and reduced
material toughness than wrought material, largely as a result of residual
porosity during fabrication [6]. Mechanical properties are also strongly
anisotropic due to the material being highly textured in the as-built state
[7,8]. The solidification microstructure of additively manufactured
316L is dependent on the temperature gradient and the solidification
velocity, where due to high temperature gradients and fast interface
[7,9]. Furthermore, the existence of cellular substructures in LPBF 316L
has been reported in literature, as a result of elemental redistribution
during solidification, in particular segregation of Cr and Mo at the cell
walls [10]. This can have important consequences as both Cr and Mo are
critical alloying additions in the corrosion and stress corrosion cracking
(SCC) resistance of austenitic SS [11].
While austenitic SS are widely regarded to possess good corrosion
resistance properties, surface corrosion can still occur in aggressive
environments. The general corrosion resistance properties of printed
316L are usually considered superior to forged material, which has often
been attributed to the formation of a more compact and stable protective
oxide layer [12–14]. It has also been suggested that the cellular
sub-structure may aid in the general corrosion performance of LPBF
austenitic SS, where segregation of Mo and Cr at cell walls results in a
more corrosion resistant cell wall that limits the depth of corrosion
attack [7,14]. Ettefagh et al. have attributed the superior corrosion
performance of LPBF 316L in chloride solutions to the lack of

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: m.wenman@imperial.ac.uk (M.R. Wenman).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2021.101902
Received 17 September 2020; Received in revised form 5 February 2021; Accepted 8 February 2021
Available online 20 February 2021
2214-8604/© 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V.
P. Dong et al.
non-equilibrium phases, particularly martensite that can exist in
wrought austenitic SS [13].
Austenitic SS are, however, susceptible to localised corrosion pro­
cesses such as stress corrosion cracking. SCC requires a tensile stress (can
be applied or residual), a susceptible material and a specific chemical
environment [11,15,16]. In the case of transgranular SCC of austenitic
SS, chloride ions, typically found in sea-salts, are particularly aggressive
[17–19]. Due to poor sample surface finish, residual porosity and
inherent high residual stresses, SCC may be especially problematic in
LPBF material [12,20–22]. The high residual stresses found in LPBF
316L are likely to be sufficient at initiating SCC without any externally
applied stress [23,24]. Tensile residual stresses recorded in as-printed
316L components have been reported to be as high as 350 MPa in the
build direction (dependent on printing pattern and build orientation of
the component), which far exceeds any of the suggested stress thresholds
for SCC [25]. Corrosion pits are often regarded as a precursor to SCC and
the pitting corrosion resistance of LPBF austenitic SS has been reported
to be worse due to porosity, where pores can act as potential sites for
acidification and concentration of Cl- ions [26–29]. The size and
morphology of the pores have been reported to influence pitting
corrosion of LPBF austenitic SS [12,30,31]. On the other hand, greater
resistance to pit initiation has been reported by several authors for LPBF
316L and has been attributed to the inability for MnS inclusions
(regarded as a site for pit initiation) to form during rapid solidification
[8]. However, LPBF 316L may still be inferior as after pit initiation, pit
growth rates has been reported to be higher due to a combination of
porosity, chemical segregation and residual stress/plastic strain effects,
resulting in the formation of stable pits [8,32].
However, literature regarding Cl- induced transgranular SCC in LPBF
austenitic SS is still rather scarce with most studies on intergranular SCC
[33]. For intergranular SCC in high temperature water environments,
Lou et al. have suggested a dependence on SCC crack growth rate and
increasing porosity/pore size [34]. While MnS inclusions are not typi­
cally present in LPBF 316L, preliminary studies by Lou et al. and Vec­
chiato have reported the existence of Mn and Si rich oxide inclusions at
the cellular level [9,35]. Lou et al. have reported that the Si-rich in­
clusions can act as a site for intergranular SCC initiation in high tem­
perature water conditions [35]. Evidence of transgranular SCC in LPBF
316L has been presented by Bruycker et al. under immersed boiling
MgCl2 solutions, however, this is typically regarded as a very aggressive
environment and unlikely to be representative of atmospheric condi­
tions [36]. The risk of SCC can be reduced through a reduction of the
residual tensile stress remaining within the fabricated LPBF components
using post-fabrication heat treatments, however there are currently a
lack of established parameters for effective stress-relief in LPBF 316L
[37–39]. Furthermore, due to the beneficial nature of the temperature
sensitive cellular substructure, allowing for high strength and ductility,
and the need to avoid component distortion, it would be beneficial to
retain the as-printed microstructure during heat treatment. It has been
suggested in literature that the cellular structure begins to dissolve
above 600–700 ◦ C [7,38]. This is a concern as limiting heat treatment
temperatures to this range would not only be ineffective at fully
relieving residual stresses, but since it is also close to the sensitisation
temperature in austenitic SS, intergranular SCC may become a risk as
well [40,41].
Although SCC of forged, and to an extent welded, austenitic SS ma­
terial have been widely studied in literature, chloride-induced SCC in
LPBF 316L has not been addressed in significant detail [42–45]. In this
study, LPBF 316L tensile specimens that had undergone various heat
treatments were exposed to MgCl2 and maintained in a corrosion
chamber at 75 ◦ C and 70% relative humidity (RH) for 480 h. The chosen
atmospheric SCC test conditions reflect those used by several previous
atmospheric SCC studies on forged 304L and 316L allowing for more
direct comparisons of performance [24,42,46,47].
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Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902
Fig. 1. Dimensions of LPBF samples in mm. Thickness = 4 mm. [42].
Table 1
Printing parameters used for substrate deposition.
Laser Laser Hatch Points Layer Inter-
Power Exposure Spacing Distance Height layer
(W) Time (μs) (μm) (μm) (μm) angle (◦ )
200 80 110 60 50 67
2. Experimental
Tensile specimens (dimensions shown in Fig. 1) were printed using a
Renishaw AM250 LPBF system in an argon atmosphere (≈0.01% oxygen
content) using a continuous-wave fibre laser. The printing parameters
are given in Table 1. These parameters were optimised for production of
high-density substrates (> 99.9%). The thickness of each layer was fixed
at 50 µm and with every successive layer, the scan direction was rotated
by 67◦ . Samples were printed using a stripe hatching pattern as outlined
by the Renishaw “Design for metal AM” guide for a more homogeneous
distribution of residual stresses [48]. The composition of the AISI 316L
austenitic SS powder used is given in Table 1. With regards to compo­
nents such as pipe or canisters, only one surface would be exposed to a
corrosive environment. In this study two different build orientations
were chosen to provide two different surface microstructures for com­
parison purposes. The two build orientations of samples chosen for this
study were: vertical (printed perpendicularly to the build plate, Fig. 2a)
and horizontal (printed in parallel to the build plate, Fig. 2b). Samples
were deposited directly onto a build plate via support structures (small
cylindrical struts approximately 5 mm in height) to facilitate easy
removal of specimens from the base plate.
Following removal of supports, both horizontally and vertically
printed specimens were exposed to the various heat treatments outlined
in Table 2 via a furnace. The samples were then either left to cool in the
furnace or were quenched immediately in water. 750 ◦ C furnace cooled
treatment was selected to allow some retention of the cellular structure
while potentially avoiding sensitisation of grain boundaries. 900 ◦ C heat
treatment for 30 min followed by water quenching was selected for
comparison as this heat treatment had been previously suggested to be
effective for stress relief and recovery in forged 304L material [42]. The
samples were tested with the oxide scale intact to determine if such a
material would be industrially suitable: reduced processing steps would
reduce manufacturing costs. Furthermore machine grinding to remove
the oxide layer can affect the surface tensile residual stress state and can
have significant impacts on SCC development [49,50]. This was then
compared with components heat treated in an inert atmosphere to avoid
oxidation by air. Prior to the heat treatment, these samples were
encapsulated in a glass tube that was backfilled with argon and subse­
quently sealed using an oxypropane torch. (Table 3).
After the heat treatment, the specimens were then sprayed with a
MgCl2 suspension in isopropanol using an airbrush. The solvent was
evaporated on a hot plate, allowing deposition of a uniform layer of salt
onto the test surface. This process was repeated until the desired salt
loading of 0.02 g was reached. A loading of 0.02 g was chosen for all
samples, for both consistency and for comparison to existing work on
forged 304 L and 316 L material using an identical corrosion testing
setup [42,47]. Masses of the specimens before and after deposition were
determined using a Fisher Scientific MH-214 analytic scale (accuracy
P. Dong et al. Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902

Fig. 2. Diagram of the LPBF samples attached to the build plate: (a) Vertically printed; (b) Horizontally printed. Indication of the build direction (BD) with respect to
the specimen geometry shown using the axes. LD = Longitudinal direction, TD = Transverse direction, ND = Normal direction. The face shown (parallel to BD) was
exposed to chloride salt for SCC testing.

Table 2
Elemental composition of 316L powder by wt%.
Grade Cr Ni Mo Mn Si Cu C P S Fe

316L 18 13 2.5 2.0 0.75 0.50 0.030 0.025 0.010 Bal.

Table 3
List of sample name abbreviations and their corresponding heat treatment conditions.
Sample Heat Treatment

Sample Abbreviation Temperature/◦ C (time/h) Encapsulation Cooling Method Applied Stress at Start of SCC Test/ MPa

AB (as-built) N/A N/A N/A 60

750FC 750 (2) No Furnace Cooled 60
750ENFC 750 (2) Yes Furnace Cooled 60
900FC 900 (0.5) No Furnace Cooled 60
900WQ 900 (0.5) No Water Quenched 60
900ENFC 900 (0.5) Yes Furnace Cooled 60
900ENWQ 900 (0.5) Yes Water Quenched 60
1250WQ (Full recrystallisation) 1250 (1) No Water Quenched 60
AB*(as-built) N/A N/A N/A 0
750FC* 750 (2) No Furnace Cooled 0
900WQ* 900 (0.5) No Water Quenched 0

Samples denoted with a * are from a 2nd test without applied stress during the corrosion experiment.

Fig. 3. Bend test jig with a loaded test specimen [42].
0.1 mg). The coated specimens were then mounted on bend jigs (as
shown in Fig. 3) that applied an initial upper surface tensile stress of
60 MPa parallel to LD. The jigs are designed to maintain a relatively
consistent stress intensity factor through the use of a compression
spring: as a SCC crack propagates within a sample, the sample will
experience greater bending, resulting in a reduced load being applied by
the compression spring (the increased stress intensity factor due to
greater crack length can to some degree be balanced by the decrease in
applied load) [24]. The required deflection to achieve the desired initial
tensile stress was calculated for each specimen and measured using a
Mitutoyo ABSOLUTE digimatic indicator (accuracy 0.001 mm). The
loaded jigs were then placed in a non-metallic corrosion chamber inside
a furnace, to maintain temperature at 75 ◦ C. A beaker of saturated NaCl
solution was placed alongside the jigs to maintain RH of 70% within the
corrosion chamber.
The specimens were inspected and photographed every 3–4 days for
the 20-day test duration to record the development of corrosion prod­
ucts. A second set of tests was also repeated for a limited selection of the
heat treatments but with the absence of an applied stress. Samples were
still loaded onto jigs, to isolate the specimens from the floor of the
corrosion chamber where salt and water could accumulate, but these
were not tightened. Since it was expected that there would be less SCC

3
P. Dong et al.
Fig. 4. Images of the LPBF components at each of the different heat treatments: (a) Vertically printed; (b) Horizontally printed. The face parallel to BD shown here
was SCC tested.
development than with the previous run, the duration of the test was
increased to 30 days. Three samples were tested per build orientation
and heat treatment condition. It is important to note that the samples
used in the second test without applied stress were from a different
printing batch to the first set with applied stress. Due to the inherent
variations between print runs, differences in properties may be expected
and direct comparisons between the two sets may not be representative.
For optical and secondary electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, the
samples were sectioned using a low deformation circular saw with an
aluminium oxide blade. The lowest feed rate of 0.005 mm s− 1 was used
to minimise the introduction of further residual stresses during cutting.
Following sectioning, the samples were mounted in Bakelite and ground
up to 4000 grit SiC paper using standard metallographic preparation
procedures. To obtain a fine surface finish for electron backscatter
diffraction (EBSD), samples were polished using an aqueous oxidised
porous silicon (OPS) suspension. Optical characterisation was per­
formed using an Olympus-BXS1 optical microscope, while SEM imaging
and EBSD mapping were carried out on a Zeiss Sigma 300 FEGSEM at
20 kV with a Bruker Quantax detector (step size between 1 and 2 µm
depending on grain size and acquisition time). EBSD data was processed
and analysed using a combination of MTEX and ESPRIT 2 for orientation
maps, grain analysis and misorientation maps. Surface cracks were
recorded using optical microscopy and a crack density (number of cracks
per unit area) was calculated. A minimum threshold crack length of
50 µm was used to ensure consistency. Due to extensive branching
observed in almost all cracks, branched cracks were considered as single
cracks for crack count purposes. To quantify the degree of branching, a
crack-to-branching ratio was calculated, where the total number of
branches (threshold of 50 µm) were recorded per crack and averaged
across each heat treatment. Hardness testing was performed, after
grinding/polishing, on a sample corresponding to each of the different
heat treatments and build orientations. A Vickers hardness indenter was
used with a load of 10 N for 10 s. Five surface measurements at random
locations were recorded per sample and averaged.
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Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Material characterisation
Following removal of the LPBF specimens from the base plate (by
cutting the support structures), it was observed that the horizontally
printed specimens had a tendency to bend, with the longer surface
corresponding to the side that had been attached to the support struc­
tures. This bending was likely a result of the presence of high Type I
residual tensile stresses caused by a strong thermal gradient in the
longitudinal direction. When the support structures were removed,
partial relaxation of these longitudinal stresses can occur within the
samples, causing the curvature of the specimens. Large stresses parallel
to the scan direction have been reported in literature, and neutron
diffraction experiments on similar specimen geometries (after support
strut removal) have revealed possible evidence of stress redistribution,
where considerable stresses were recorded for one side while stresses for
the other side were closer to zero [39,51,52].
The appearances of the samples after the various heat treatment
conditions are shown in Fig. 4, where a clear variation in surface
appearance can be seen. The change in the visual appearance can be
prescribed to the changes in the oxide layer that forms on the specimen
surface during heat treatment. In literature, the passivating Cr2O3 layer
associated with stainless steels is broken down and replaced with an
oxide layer during heat treatment, consisting of an outer Fe2O3/Fe3O4
layer and an inner, Cr-rich spinel oxide layer (often regarded as a
“barrier layer”). The thickness of this new outer oxide layer has been
reported to increase with higher temperatures/dwell times [53].
The morphology of the grains found in the 316L LPBF specimens
after grinding and polishing, at the different heat treatment conditions,
are shown using IPF Z coloured EBSD maps in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, dis­
playing the vertical and horizontal build orientations respectively. The
grains appear columnar, growing in parallel to the build direction due to
the associated high temperature gradients and share similarities with
the dendritic microstructure found in welds. However, unlike 316L
welds, the LPBF components are purely austenitic and do not have any
δ-ferrite phases, which is attributed to the rapid cooling rates [54]. The
columnar grain structure was present in all heat treatment conditions
except the 1250WQ treatment where full recrystallisation had been
P. Dong et al.
Fig. 5. EBSD maps in IPF Y colouring (parallel to BD) showing the morphology of the grains in the vertically printed samples after the following heat treatment
conditions: (a) AB; (b) 750FC; (c) 900FC; (d) 900WQ; (e) 1250WQ-recrystallised.
achieved. The recrystallised material (shown in Fig. 5e and Fig. 6e),
displayed equiaxed grain size with annealing twins. Both the vertically
and the horizontally as-printed material are textured, as evident by the
pole figures in Fig. 7.
The majority of the grains are significantly larger than the typical
equiaxed grains found in forged austenitic SS, although some very small
grains can still be observed. An average of the grain area and aspect
ratios are displayed in Fig. 8 for each of the heat treatments. In general,
the grains of the horizontally printed material are slightly larger than the
vertical orientations for the as-built and furnace cooled specimens. This
is likely due to larger scan vectors found in the horizontally printed
material than the vertically built components leading to a more signif­
icant second thermal gradient [9]. There does not appear to be any grain
growth during the furnace cooled heat treatments; instead both 750FC
and 900FC conditions resulted in an apparent decrease of grain sizes
compared to the as-built material for both print orientations. Despite the
900FC specimens being treated at a higher temperature, the average
grain size is not significantly different from the 750FC specimens, likely
due to the shorter heating duration of the higher temperature treated
samples. The 900WQ specimens showed similar grain sizes to the AB
suggesting little if any grain scale change for this heat treatment con­
dition, possibly due to the shorter heating time. The fully recrystallised
material, 1250WQ, showed newly grown equiaxed grains that averaged
5
Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902
between 45 and 50 µm in diameter. For all samples, the much larger
mean grain sizes when compared to the median reflect the large pro­
portion of small grains in the material as evident by the EBSD maps. This
is further shown by positive skew indicated by the interquartile ranges.
In all the analysed regions, very large grains (above 10,000 µm2) were
observed with maximum grain sizes exceeding 30,000 µm2. The pro­
portion of very large grains was between 6% and 8% for the as-built
material, which was decreased after the 750FC and 900FC heat treat­
ments to around 1–3%. The 900WQ treatment did not seem to affect
proportion of very large grains significantly, remaining at between 6%
and 7%. However, these observed trends may not be fully representative
due to the relatively small area analysed by EBSD and the anisotropic
nature of the printed material. Grain aspect ratios are relatively
consistent across the different heat treatments and build orientations,
averaging between 2.5 and 3.5, indicating a similar extent of elongation
within the grains and suggesting that the reduction in grain size
observed in the 750FC and 900FC specimens was not due to static
recrystallisation of the deformed grains. The 1250WQ specimens, in
both print directions, showed a lower aspect ratio of around 1.7 due to
the nucleation and growth of equiaxed grains (presence of annealing
twins resulted in a slightly higher aspect ratio than 1).
The changes in the Vickers hardness of the specimens for the
different heat treatments are shown in Fig. 9. The as-built specimens
P. Dong et al. Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902

Fig. 6. EBSD maps in IPF Y colouring (parallel to BD) showing the morphology of the grains in the horizontally printed samples after the following heat treatment
conditions: (a) AB; (b) 750FC; (c) 900FC; (d) 900WQ; (e) 1250WQ-recrystallised.

Fig. 7. Pole figures of the horizontally and vertically printed AB material showing texture. Scale is multiples of random texture.

6
P. Dong et al.
Fig. 8. Grain properties of 316L LPBF specimens exposed to different heat treatment: (a) Median and mean grain area, bars show the upper and lower quartiles; (b)
Mean grain aspect ratio, error bars show standard deviations.
Fig. 9. Hardness of 316L LPBF specimens exposed to different heat treatments. Error bars show standard deviation.
have a hardness of 190–195 HV that is considerably higher than that of
annealed 316L austenitic SS, that is typically around 150 HV [55]. The
heat treatment at 750FC resulted in a fall in hardness by around 5–10
HV, and further decreased to approximately 175–185 HV for the 900FC
treatment. The trend in hardness with increasing heat treatment tem­
perature are in good agreement with work by Kamariah et al. on simi­
larly printed 316L material [37]. However, whereas they have
attributed the decrease in hardness to a reduction in δ-ferrite at tem­
peratures above 950 ◦ C, no δ-ferrite was observed in any of the materials
in this study. Here, it is more likely that the heat treatments at 900 ◦ C
have allowed some degree of recovery to occur (reduction is dislocation
density), resulting in the lowered hardness [42,56]. The samples
exposed to the 900FC treatment possessed a lower Vickers hardness
value than the 900WQ specimens suggesting that a greater degree of
recovery occurred in the furnace cooled specimens compared to the
water quenched equivalents. This is possibly due to the much slower
cooling rate in the former, allowing more time for dislocation
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Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902
annihilation/rearrangement. However, in this study, the horizontally
printed specimens displayed a consistently higher value of hardness
than the vertically built specimens for the heat treatments tested,
whereas measurements by Kamariah et al. have suggested that speci­
mens of the vertical orientation exhibit a greater hardness [37]. This
discrepancy with literature is likely due to differences in the tempera­
ture gradients present in the printed components. In both print orien­
tations, the highest temperature gradient would be expected along the
build direction, but for the horizontal specimens produced in this study,
another considerable temperature gradient could be found along the
scan direction (due to the long scan vectors employed resulting in heat
build-up) [9,39]. This would result in high tensile residual stresses in
two directions that could result in the grains of the horizontally printed
material experiencing two significant strain components. The recrys­
tallised specimens (1250WQ) exhibited the lowest hardness at approx­
imately 140 HV due to the nucleation and growth of strain-free grains.
As a result of complete recrystallisation occurring in both vertically and
P. Dong et al. Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902

Fig. 10. Final states of the different heat treated printed specimens after 20 days of corrosion with an applied tensile stress of 60 MPa.

8
P. Dong et al. Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902

Fig. 11. Optical image of an SCC crack found in: (a) An as-built vertically built LPBF 316L component. (b) A 750FC heat treated horizontal LPBF 316L component.
Secondary electron SEM image showing: (c) highly branched cracking in an as-built vertically built LPBF 316L component. (d) part of a corrosion pit with an
associated SCC crack in a 750FC heat treated horizontal LPBF 316L component.

9
P. Dong et al.
Fig. 12. Surface crack densities of the different heat treated printed specimens after 20 days of corrosion with an applied tensile stress of 60 MPa. Error bars show
standard deviation.
horizontally printed material, there were no variations in hardness be­
tween the two build orientations.
3.2. Changes in corrosion/SCC behaviour with heat treatment
Images showing the extent of corrosion on the surface of the various
heat treated specimens (of both tested orientations) after 20 days of
corrosion testing with an applied tensile stress of 60 MPa are shown in
Fig. 10. There are distinct differences in the corrosion patterns sug­
gesting that the type of heat treatment has had significant effects on the
corrosion behaviour of the LPBF 316L material. The AB samples dis­
played the least amount of surface corrosion, with most of the specimen
unaffected by the chloride salt. When compared with forged 316L from
an identical experimental setup, the LPBF 316L material shows superior
general corrosion resistance; the entire surface of the forged 316L ma­
terial had developed a layer of red-brown corrosion product within the
same timeframe [47]. In literature, the corrosion resistance of LPBF
316L compared to the wrought counterpart is highly disputed with ev­
idence of both greater and poorer performance being presented [12,14,
57]. This is likely due to the significant variations in properties that may
exist in LPBF material depending on the chosen printing parameters,
such as: grain size, residual stress distribution, plastic strains, porosity
and surface quality [58]. The superior corrosion resistance of LPBF 316L
has been argued to be the result of the lack of detrimental MnS in­
clusions (widely regarded to be detrimental to pitting resistance) and the
formation of a more compact or thicker protective oxide layer [12,14,
20,57,58]. However, for the as-built printed specimens in this study,
corrosion was typically observed in dark, circular patterns suggesting
some form of localised corrosion such as pitting still occurs, possibly due
to localised large plastic strains present (see later Section 3.5). The build
orientation is also an important factor to consider as while the corrosion
in the vertical specimens appear randomly distributed; the horizontally
printed specimens tended to favour corrosion at a specific surface (the
surface where the support structures were located). This has been sug­
gested that this is due to partial relaxation of longitudinal stresses during
removal of the support structures, resulting in higher tensile stresses
distributed along the support surface [9].
For the 750FC heat treatment, the preference for horizontally printed
specimens to corrode at the support surface remains, indicating that
higher residual stresses still exist close to the support surface. The
corrosion appears significantly worse in the horizontal specimens,
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Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902
where a much larger area of dark corrosion can be seen along the sup­
port surface. Some speckled corrosion products can be seen within the
corroded areas possibly indicating the presence of pitting. The corrosion
for the vertically printed specimens also appears different: the surface
now contains red-brown corrosion products along with dark, speckled
areas of localised corrosion likely to correspond to pits. The poorer
surface condition of the heat treated material when compared to the as-
built samples can be linked to the surface oxide. It has been reported in
literature that the heat tint produced at higher treatment temperatures
result in reduced corrosion resistance, in particular pitting resistance
(through reduced pitting potentials) [59]. The two treatments at 900 ◦ C
appeared similar in terms of surface corrosion products. Various col­
oured corrosion products exist on the surface suggesting the presence of
multiple different compositions of iron oxides. Speckling can still be
observed on the surface of specimens suggesting that pitting has still
occurred. Furthermore, the horizontal specimens still retain the prefer­
ence to corrode along the support edge, an indication that stresses have
not been fully relieved by either the 900FC or 900WQ heat treatments.
Again, the more heavily corroded surfaces for these heat treated samples
when compared to the 750FC are likely due to the more deleterious
oxide layer formed at higher temperature heat treatments [59]. The
recrystallised 316L material shows an absence of any speckled corrosion
products and are covered by a uniform layer of red-brown corrosion
products, indicating the lack of localised corrosion such as pitting. While
reduced residual stresses and plastic strains reduce the likelihood of
pitting in recrystallised forged material, this has not been generally
observed for recrystallised additively manufactured austenitic SS
[60–64]. For LPBF 316L, lower pitting potential have been reported in
literature, which has been attributed to an accelerated transition of
metastable pitting to steady-state pitting as a result of weak passive films
formed at pores that have been enlarged during heat treatments [63]. It
is likely that the discrepancy with literature in this study is due to the
LPBF 316L material studied here not being heat treated in an inert at­
mosphere. As a result of the oxide layer formed on the sample surface
during the heat treatment/water quenching process, significant surface
corrosion can be observed on the recrystallised LPBF 316L. It is possible
that the increased surface corrosion may have masked the pitting
corrosion.
After removing the surface corrosion products via grinding/polishing
SCC cracks were revealed in some of the samples. The morphology of the
SCC cracks tended to be highly branched and propagated
P. Dong et al.
Fig. 13. Final states of the different heat treated printed specimens after 30 days of corrosion without an applied tensile stress. Note that specimens denoted with a *
were produced from a different print run than those used in the 20-day tests.
perpendicularly with respect to the build direction (even in the presence
of an applied stress in an opposing direction for the horizontally printed
specimens). Examples of typical SCC cracks found in the printed mate­
rial are shown in Fig. 11. The crack densities obtained from the polished
specimen surfaces are shown in Fig. 12 for the LPBF samples tested with
an applied stress of 60 MPa tested for 20 days. Crack densities were
considerably lower than forged 304L, despite the presence of high ten­
sile residual stresses, further showing the improved SCC resistance of
316L material, even in a non-ideal stress state [42]. The highest crack
density was found in the vertically printed AB specimens. After 750FC
heat treatment, the crack densities were reduced significantly for the
vertically printed material and at higher temperatures of 900 ◦ C and
1250 ◦ C no cracks were observed. Horizontal specimens displayed no
cracks in the as-built state; however, instances of cracking was detected
after the 750FC heat treatment. However, it is worth noting that the
standard deviation is larger than the mean measurement due to the fact
that only one of the tested samples showed any evidence of SCC. While it
is possible that the 750FC heat treatment could have had some detri­
mental effect on the SCC susceptibility of the printed material, it is not
conclusive as the SCC in the single sample could be due to a sample
defect. The second set of experiments (discussed later in Section 3.3) was
partially designed to address this, by increasing the test duration to
allow for greater crack nucleation and growth. Heat treatments at
11
Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902
900 ◦ C and 1250 ◦ C also appeared to be sufficient for preventing
cracking in the horizontally printed specimens within the experimental
timeframe. While heat tint has been shown in literature to be detri­
mental to pitting corrosion and hence SCC, this trend is not observed
here as the heat treatments at higher temperature did not result in
increased SCC susceptibility [59,65]. It is possible that other factors such
as changes to the surface residual stress state through heat treatment
may be more significant.
3.3. Samples without an applied stress
A second set of experiments was performed removing the effect of
applied stress and increasing the duration of the corrosion test to obtain
more cracks for statistical analysis and to determine whether the re­
sidual tensile stresses present in the LPBF specimens were sufficient
alone for initiating SCC. Three sample conditions were chosen: as-built,
750 ◦ C for 2 h then furnace cooled and 900 ◦ C for 0.5 h then water
quenched and prepared from a second batch of printed specimens. The
surface corrosion characteristics displayed some similarities with the
previous tests with applied stress (shown in Fig. 13), where as-built
specimens showed localised circles of corrosion and horizontal speci­
mens displayed a preference for corrosion at the support surface.
However, the extent of corrosion was greater than 20 day loaded
P. Dong et al. Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902

Fig. 14. Optical images showing the pitting/cracking in the specimens exposed to MgCl2 for 30-days without applied stress. Vertically printed: (a) AB*, (b) 750FC*,
(c) 900WQ*. Horizontally printed: (d) AB*, (e) 750FC*, (f) 900WQ*.

Fig. 15. Surface crack densities of the different heat treated printed specimens after 30 days of corrosion without an applied stress. Note that specimens denoted with
a * were produced from a different print run. Error bars show standard deviation.

12
P. Dong et al. Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902

Table 4 horizontally printed AB* material displayed some cracking in the as-
Stress components measured using XRD for similar LPBF dogbone specimens. built state but still far lower than the vertically printed equivalent.
Data compiled from Williams et al. [39] and Vecchiato [9]. However, upon heat treating at 750 ◦ C, the number of observed cracks in
Build Orientation Heat Treatment Stress component Stress (MPa) the horizontal specimens increased significantly.
Horizontal As-built σBD 242 ± 20.0
σLD 102 ± 20.9 3.4. Influence of surface residual stresses
Horizontal 700 ◦ C (2 h) FC σBD 229 ± 44.4
σLD 127 ± 7.7 The various heat treatments are likely to result in different distri­
Horizontal 900 ◦ C (0.5 h) WQ σBD -71.8 ± 7.4
butions of residual stresses within the LPBF samples. Surface residual
σLD 26 ± 8.2
Vertical As-built σBD 349 ± 20.5 stresses obtained using X-ray diffraction from work by Williams et al.
σTD 40.1 ± 7.4 and Vecchiato on similar heat treatments of identical printed tensile
Vertical 700 ◦ C (2 h) FC σBD 119 ± 8.3 specimens are given in Table 4 [9,39]. Although the heat treatment at
0 ± 17.7
σTD
700 ◦ C (2 h) is slightly lower than the heat treatment of 750 ◦ C (2 h)
Vertical 900 ◦ C (0.5 h) WQ σBD -191.7 ± 19.5
σTD -135.4 ± 17.4
studied in this experiment, it is not significantly different and should still
provide a useful indication of the residual stresses to be expected within
the 750FC and 750FC* samples. The surface residual stress data from
specimens and corroded areas were larger in both sample print orien­ literature confirm that high tensile residual stresses are present in the
tations, possibly due to prolonged exposure to the corrosive environ­ as-built 316L specimens and reaffirm that the highest stress components
ment. For the 750FC* heat treatment, the horizontal specimens still are found parallel to the build direction. This is seen in the SCC orien­
initially corroded preferentially around the support surface but after the tations, where cracks mainly propagate perpendicularly to the build
duration of the extended test, nearly the entire gauge length had direction, as indicated in Fig. 14. A measure for the degree of crack
developed dark surface corrosion products, with heavy speckling. The branching is shown in Fig. 16 where more significant branching was
vertical specimens at the 750FC* treatment showed no preference in detected in the vertical AB* specimens compared to the horizontal. The
corrosion sites with dark areas developing across the surface along with higher crack density and greater degree of branching recorded in the
speckled corrosion. The corrosion appears more severe, in terms of both vertical AB* specimens could possibly be due to the as-built vertically
corroded area and speckling than the equivalent samples from the 20- printed samples possessing higher tensile residual stresses than the
day test with applied stress. The 900WQ* samples showed similar horizontally printed equivalents, along their respective build directions,
corrosion patterns to the 750FC* specimens for both print orientations. as seen in Table 4.
The morphology of the SCC cracks found in the AB* and 750FC* From Table 4, the 700 ◦ C furnace cooled heat treatment resulted in a
samples are shown in Fig. 14a, b, d and e. The majority of the cracks are significant reduction in surface tensile stresses for vertical build com­
associated with large corrosion pits and appear to propagate perpen­ ponents. For the 750FC and 750FC* vertically built specimens in this
dicular to the build direction. The 900WQ* treatment still appeared to study, a similar change in the stress state is to be expected and it is
be effective in reducing the risk of SCC, where even after 30-days of possible that this reduction in surface tensile stresses has resulted in the
corrosion testing, despite extensive pitting (shown in Fig. 14c and f), no lower crack density (Fig. 12 and Fig. 15) and crack branching (Fig. 16)
SCC were observed in samples of either build orientations. The crack observed from the corrosion tests than for AB specimens. However, the
densities obtained after 30 days are shown in Fig. 15. Although the crack horizontal 750FC LPBF components showed an increase in crack den­
densities appear to be much higher than that recorded for the 20-day sity, despite a minor decrease in the surface residual tensile stresses
applied stress test, similar trends could be observed. For vertically measured by Williams et al. on equivalent samples treated at 700 ◦ C
built specimens, crack densities were highest in the AB* condition and [39]. It is likely therefore that in the horizontally built specimens, other
decreased at the 750 ◦ C heat treatment (as for the 20-day tests). The material factors may make a greater contribution to the reduced SCC

Fig. 16. Average number of branches per crack for the different heat treated printed specimens after 30 days of corrosion without an applied stress. Note that
specimens denoted with a * were produced from a different print run. Error bars show standard deviation.

13
P. Dong et al. Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902

Fig. 17. GROD maps representing the intragranular misorientation for the vertically printed LPBF 316L specimens after the different heat treatments: (a) AB; (b)
750FC; (c) 900FC; (d) 900WQ; (e) 1250WQ-recrystallised. Qualitative indicator of intragranular strain. Colour scale represents the deviation of the orientation with
respect to the grain average reference (maximum is red, minimum is dark blue).

Fig. 18. GROD maps representing the intragranular misorientation for the horizontally printed LPBF 316L specimens after the different heat treatments: (a) AB; (b)
750FC; (c) 900FC; (d) 900WQ; (e) 1250WQ-recrystallised. Qualitative indicator of intragranular strain. Colour scale represents the deviation of the orientation with
respect to the grain average reference (maximum is red, minimum is dark blue).

resistance, such as microstructural effects or the role of heat tint, as
discussed earlier.
Surface X-ray diffraction measurements of equivalent water
quenched specimens treated at 900 ◦ C by Vecchiato have shown that
considerable magnitudes of stresses can remain in the build direction
after the heat treatment [9]. However, due to the water quenching, most
of the tensile residual stresses at the surface have inverted and become
compressive due to cooling rate effects through thickness [39,66]. The
compressive stresses in the 900WQ/900WQ* specimens are generally
considered to be beneficial for improving SCC resistance by inhibiting
the development of surface SCC cracks [67,68]. This is confirmed in the
corrosion tests where neither 900WQ nor 900WQ* specimens displayed
any SCC. Although, horizontally built specimens appeared to retain a
small tensile residual stress in the longitudinal direction (perpendicular
to build direction), this did not appear to be sufficient to induce SCC
within the duration of the tests. Furnace cooling after the heat treatment
at 900 ◦ C also appeared to be effective in reducing SCC as none of the
900FC samples had developed cracks. Rather than a compressive stress
state, it is likely that despite the short 30 min heat treatment; the higher
temperature in combination with the slower cooling has allowed enough
time for greater stress relief within the specimens compared to the water
quenched process, and that these tensile stresses maybe low enough to

14
P. Dong et al.
Fig. 19. EBSD maps of a crack in the AB* specimens (without applied tensile stress). Vertically printed: (a) GROD, (b) Grain boundary map. Horizontally printed: (a)
GROD, (b) Grain boundary map.
inhibit SCC.
Despite a compressive surface residual stress state being desirable for
SCC resistance, considerable levels of plastic strain in the 900WQ/
900WQ* specimens are still likely to exist, as this is not a recrystallisa­
tion heat treatment. This is indicated by the Vickers micro-hardness
values in Fig. 9 and the grain structures in Figs. 5c and 6c. Pitting re­
mains an important issue in highly strained material, since once the pit
has grown deep enough, there is a possibility for SCC to develop below
the surface, albeit after some incubation time, as the core of the LPBF
specimen is now presumed to be under a tensile stress state (to reach
equilibrium of forces) [9,66]. On the other hand, despite a tensile sur­
face residual stress state being detrimental for SCC in furnace cooled
samples, any crack growth would be limited due to a decline in the
magnitude of the tensile stresses towards the core. Neutron diffraction
measurements by Williams et al. have revealed that the core of as-built
and furnace cooled specimens to be under compressive stresses that
could assist in retarding or stopping SCC growth, preventing complete
component failure [39].
3.5. Role of microstructure
Cold work/plastic strain is widely regarded as being detrimental to
the SCC and pitting resistance of austenitic SS. Grain reference orien­
tation deviation (GROD) maps (displayed in Fig. 17 and Fig. 18 for
vertical and horizontal build orientations, respectively) can be used as a
qualitative indicator of intragranular strain by comparing the misori­
entation of a pixel with the average grain misorientation [69]. When
compared to the fully recrystallised material, it is clear that the LPBF
material (regardless of heat treatment) still have significantly deformed
grains present. The presence of high levels of plastic strain in the 900WQ
15
Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902
samples likely explain why pitting corrosion is still prominent, despite
the lack of SCC (due to compressive stresses along build direction). On
the other hand, the recrystallised LPBF 316L (1250WQ), mostly con­
sisting of strain-free grains, did not experience either pitting or SCC. In
literature, recrystallised LPBF 316L (in an inert atmosphere) has been
reported to have poorer pitting resistance despite the reduction in plastic
strain due to the effects of increasing pore size (due to temperature)
weakening the associated passive film [63]. It is likely that for the
samples in this study that were heat treated in an open atmosphere,
surface oxidation and hence surface corrosion may have influenced the
corrosion pitting observations.
The GROD maps in the vicinity of a typical crack found in the AB*
specimens are shown in Fig. 19a and c, for horizontal and vertical print
orientations respectively, with the corresponding grain boundary maps
in Fig. 19b and d. The crack branching remains extensive in both build
orientations, although it appears that the vertically printed material
displays more branches, in agreement with the quantification of
branching made by optical microscopy shown in Fig. 16. It is clear from
the grain boundary maps in Fig. 19b and d that the cracking observed in
both LPBF print orientations is, despite the branching, still trans­
granular, consistent with typical Cl- SCC in austenitic SS. Crack
branching predominantly occurs either at grain boundaries or intra­
granular misorientation bands (as indicated by the red arrows) shown by
the GROD map. It is likely that these bands of misorientation seen within
the grains represent deformation bands that have been suggested to be
energetically favourable for crack propagation. For intergranular SCC,
low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) have sometimes been suggested to
be more resistant to SCC due to the lower associated grain boundary
energies and could similarly assist in delaying/inhibiting transgranular
crack propagation [70,71]. However, from the grain boundary maps in
P. Dong et al.
Fig. 20. EBSD maps of a crack in the 750FC* specimens (without applied tensile stress). Vertically printed: (a) GROD, (b) Grain boundary map. Horizontally printed:
(a) GROD, (b) Grain boundary map.
Fig. 19, the transgranular SCC cracks observed here do not appear to be
inhibited by the presence of LAGBs.
Grain boundary maps and GROD maps of typical cracks found in
750FC* samples are shown in Fig. 20. Although the maps were taken at
the same magnification, the degree of branching appears to be reduced
for both print orientations in comparison to the AB* specimens shown in
Fig. 19. Bands of misorientation are still observed in the 750FC* maps
but these do not appear to cause branching of the SCC crack. The SCC
cracks observed are still clearly transgranular and similarly to the AB*
material, LAGBs do not appear to inhibit SCC.
“Special” coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries, in particular Σ3
boundaries corresponding to twins, are also low energy grain boundaries
and have been widely recognised to improve resistance to intergranular
SCC in austenitic SS [72–74]. It is possible that they may have a similar
effect on transgranular SCC as more energy would be needed to cross
such grain boundaries, providing an inhibiting effect on crack nucle­
ation and propagation [75]. Higher heat treatment temperatures have
been reported to have an effect of increasing the proportion of low ΣCSL
grain boundaries, such as Σ3, in 316L [76]. Grain boundary analysis of
the EBSD maps in Figs. 5 and 6 revealed that while the recrystallised
316L specimens contain 45–50% Σ3 boundaries (by length compared to
total boundary length), the other LPBF sample conditions all possessed
minimal amounts of Σ3 boundaries, below 4% by length. Even if Σ3
boundaries were to have a beneficial impact on transgranular SCC, the
very low proportion found in the LPBF materials renders their effect
negligible.
Chemical segregation is another concern when considering the SCC
susceptibility of LPBF 316L. Although intergranular cracking was not
observed in any of the heat treated samples, suggesting that sensitisation
during heat treatments was not an issue, other segregation of elements
16
Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902
could have occurred during the fabrication process. At the cellular sub-
grain scale it has been reported that structures exist due to redistribution
of elements during solidification [9]. Various studies in literature have
reported the segregation of Cr and Mo towards cell walls, elements
critical to both corrosion and SCC resistance [7]. The elemental segre­
gation could have both beneficial and detrimental effect on SCC resis­
tance, as the higher Cr and Mo content at cell walls could hinder crack
propagation while the cell interior could become more susceptible to
SCC/corrosion. The cellular structure has been reported to be influenced
by heat treatment after fabrication, where higher temperatures allow
diffusion of elements resulting in grain homogeneity [7,38]. Ronneberg
et al. have suggested that the cellular network begins to disappear at a
similar temperature range to the melt pool boundaries, above 700 ◦ C,
and is fully removed at 1200 ◦ C [7]. The loss of the cell structure could
be another reason why the 750 ◦ C heat treated horizontally printed
specimens performed worse, in terms of SCC resistance, than the as-built
equivalents. It is important to note, however, that the vertically printed
specimens did not show a decrease in SCC resistance after the 750 ◦ C
heat treatment. It is possible likely surface tensile stresses have a pri­
mary role in SCC. After heat treatment, surface residual tensile stresses
in the build direction only decreased from 242 MPa to 229 MPa for the
horizontal specimens while the vertically printed samples fell dramati­
cally from 349 MPa to 119 MPa.
3.6. Effect of encapsulation
The surfaces of the heat treated encapsulated specimens generally
appear very different to the equivalent samples heat treated in air
(displayed in Fig. 21). The encapsulated 900FC specimens displayed no
substantial oxide development on the surface aside from a few small
P. Dong et al.
Fig. 21. Images of the LPBF components at each of the different encapsulated
heat treatments: (a) Vertically printed; (b) Horizontally printed. The face par­
allel to BD shown here was SCC tested.
spots. The encapsulated 900WQ specimen showed oxidation of the
entire steel surface after the quenching process. Interestingly, the
encapsulated 750FC samples developed considerable surface oxidation
products when heat treated in an inert atmosphere, that varied between
print orientations. For the vertically printed specimens, the entire sur­
face appeared oxidised, while in the horizontally printed specimens only
some regions were affected. The darkened regions of the horizontal
specimens are associated with the support surface, where higher tensile
stresses and greater plastic strain are expected. High levels of plastic
strain have been known to have a detrimental effect on the oxidation
potential of austenitic SS in literature.
Encapsulation in an inert argon atmosphere prior to the heat treat­
ment process also appears to have had some influence on the surface
corrosion behaviour and SCC behaviour of the LPBF 316L material when
compared with the non-encapsulated equivalents. The end states of
samples exposed to the three different heat treatment conditions with
encapsulation are shown in Fig. 22 (samples were under a 60 MPa
applied tensile stress and tested for 20 days). In comparison with the
non-encapsulated 750FC samples, the encapsulated specimens showed a
far greater extent of corrosion, in terms of area affected, especially for
the horizontally built samples. Corrosion products appear darker and are
speckled. For the horizontal specimens, there are clear signs that
corrosion still preferred the support edge, as seen in the non-
encapsulated specimens. Crack density analysis in Fig. 23 show that
the encapsulated samples at 750 ◦ C are much more susceptible to SCC
than both the as-built and 750FC samples, suggesting a strong detri­
mental effect caused by encapsulation. However, the encapsulated
samples at 900 ◦ C (both FC and WQ) still showed no evidence of
cracking due to the beneficial effects of stress relief/stress state inversion
although the surface corrosion patterns displayed a visible difference to
the non-encapsulated samples. By comparing the final corroded states of
the 900ENFC specimens in Fig. 22 with the non-encapsulated equiva­
lents from Fig. 10, it is clear that the loss of the oxide scale has reduced
the extent of the surface corrosion considerably. However, despite the
17
Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902
significantly worse corrosion present in the components with the oxide
scale, both encapsulated and non-encapsulated 900 ◦ C heat treatments
displayed no evidence of SCC, suggesting that the surface residual stress
state may be more significant.
The transgranular cracks observed in the encapsulated 750FC sam­
ples are similar to the non-encapsulated samples in appearance showing
a branched morphology with the direction of the crack propagation
parallel to the build direction as shown in Fig. 24 (even with 60 MPa
applied stress in a competing direction for the horizontally printed
material). As the residual stress state should be virtually identical be­
tween the encapsulated and non-encapsulated samples at 750 ◦ C and the
samples should have experienced similar changes in the cellular struc­
ture, the difference in crack density must be due to other material factors
related to the surface condition. From the images of the initial specimen
surfaces after heat treatment in Fig. 4 and Fig. 21, it is clear that there is
a significant difference in the generated surface oxide layer. In literature
it has been reported that the passivating oxide layer formed during LPBF
may be unstable and LPBF austenitic SS have poor re-passivation ability
attributed to porosity and precipitates [12,77,78]. For encapsulated
specimens at 750 ◦ C, the passivating layer may become damaged during
heating and the lack of oxygen could have limited the regeneration of
the passive layer resulting in the poorer corrosion and SCC resistance of
the encapsulated LPBF material. Due to the much shorter heating
duration of the 900 ◦ C encapsulated samples (only 0.5 h compared to
2 h), the surface still looks mostly unchanged, however, the black spots
forming along the specimen suggest that some oxidation is occurring
despite the inert atmosphere. If the heating was continued, the oxidation
could similarly extend across the entire specimen.
4. Conclusions
In order to assess the effect of heat treatment on the SCC suscepti­
bility of LPBF 316L specimens, various heat treatment procedures were
applied to printed dogbone specimens and exposed to MgCl2 salt-spray
to simulate atmospheric salt deposition. Samples were tested at 75 ◦ C
and 70% RH in an enclosed environment both with and without an
applied tensile stress. The following conclusions were made:
1. Horizontally printed specimens show preferential corrosion along
the “support surface” where highest residual stresses were expected.
This was not observed in the vertically printed specimens which
showed localised corrosion circles, distributed randomly. The pref­
erence for corrosion of the support side in horizontally printed
samples is retained in heat treatments up to 900 ◦ C but eliminated
after recrystallisation at 1250 ◦ C.
2. As-built specimens show SCC in both vertical and horizontal print
directions after 30 days of testing. Crack morphologies were highly
branched and always aligned perpendicularly to the build direction
(due to high tensile residual stresses), even in the presence of an
applied tensile stress of 60 MPa in a perpendicular direction.
3. Heat treatments at 750 ◦ C for 2 h followed by furnace cooling was
insufficient to eliminate the risk of SCC for either print orientations
due to significant surface tensile residual stresses remaining along
the build direction. This particular heat treatment had a detrimental
effect of increasing SCC crack density for horizontally printed spec­
imens but a beneficial effect of reducing susceptibility to SCC for
vertically printed samples.
4. GROD maps show that highly plastic strained grains can exist for all
heat treated LPBF material, except the fully recrystallised material.
In the as-built 316L components branching occurs either at grain
boundaries or at the edge of misorientation bands.
5. CSL boundaries, even if they are beneficial to transgranular SCC, are
unlikely to be important for LPBF 316L material as their total
boundary fraction is negligible (less than 4% by length).
P. Dong et al. Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902

Fig. 22. Final states of the different encapsulated heat treated printed specimens after 20 days of corrosion with an applied tensile stress of 60 MPa.

18
P. Dong et al. Additive Manufacturing 40 (2021) 101902

Fig. 23. Surface crack densities of the different encapsulated heat treated printed specimens after 20 days of corrosion with an applied tensile stress of 60 MPa
compared with AB and 750FC samples. Error bars show standard deviation.

Fig. 24. Optical images showing the pitting/cracking in: (a) Vertically printed 750ENFC (b) Horizontally printed 750ENFC. Applied tensile stress parallel to LD for
both specimens.

6. Encapsulation in argon atmosphere prior to 750 ◦ C heat treatment
for 2 h with furnace cooling resulted in a significant increase in both
the corrosion and SCC susceptibility of the LPBF material.
7. The difference in the observed corrosion patterns between the
encapsulated and non-encapsulated heat treated material highlight
the importance of the detrimental impact of oxide scales on corrosion
behaviour, in addition to microstructure and residual stress.
8. 900 ◦ C heat treatments (both encapsulated/non-encapsulated and
both furnace cooled/water quenched) were effective for improving
SCC resistance in LPBF 316 L components.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
P. Dong: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal

19
P. Dong et al.
Analysis, Writing- Original draft preparation, Visualization. F. Vec­
chiato: Conceptualization, Investigation, Formal Analysis. Z. Yang:
Methodology, Investigation, Formal Analysis. P.A. Hooper: Conceptu­
alization, Resources, Writing - Review & Editing, Supervision, Funding
acquisition. M.R. Wenman: Conceptualization, Resources, Writing -
Review & Editing, Supervision, Project Administration, Funding
acquisition.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
P. Dong and M.R. Wenman thank EDF and the EPSRC Centre for
Doctoral Training in Nuclear Energy (EP/L015900/1) for financial
support. F. Vecchiato, P.A. Hooper and M.R. Wenman acknowledge
funding from AWE plc (contract 30338995) and EPSRC (EP/M507878/
1). The authors would also like to thank Richard J. Williams and Harry
de Winton for providing the LPBF 316L dogbones tested in this study.
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