Weldability of Additive Manufactured Stainless Steel

Used material was 316L stainless steel, AM and sheet metal, and parts were welded with laser welding. Weld quality was evaluated visually from macroscopic images. Results show that there are certain differences in the welds in AM parts compared to the welds in sheet metal parts. Differences were found in penetration depths and in type of welding defects. Nevertheless, this study presents that laser welding is suitable process for welding AM parts.