Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 6–17

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Optics and Laser Technology

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Full length article

Repairing additive-manufactured 316L stainless steel using direct energy T

deposition
⁎
Wook Jin Oha, Wook Jin Leeb, Min Seob Kima, Jong Bae Jeonb, Do Sik Shima,
a
Department of Ocean Advanced Materials Convergence Engineering, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, 727 Taejong-ro, Yeongdo-Gu, Busan 49112, Republic of
Korea
b
Advanced Surface Coating & Processing R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 14, Namyangsan 1-gil, Doing-myeon, Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do
506356, Republic of Korea

H I GH L IG H T S

• This study verified the applicability of DED to repair of damaged PBF parts.
• Hot-rolled and PBF specimens with trapezoidal grooves were repaired through filling the grooves using DED.
• The microstructure of the repaired area was mainly composed of complicated dendrite structures.
• Interfacial cracks occurred around the repaired zone for specimens with large groove depths.
• The degradation in tensile properties was within 5% for repaired specimen with 0.5 mm depth.

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Powder bed fusion (PBF), a 3D printing process, is widely used for manufacturing 316L stainless steel parts.
Tensile behavior When these PBF parts are damaged or worn severely during service, they can be repaired by conventional repair
Stainless steel SUS316L processes such as GTAW welding, metal spraying, brazing etc. However, these processes have several dis-
Laser melting deposition advantages such as creating a large heat affected zone and repair defects (pores and cracks). In contrast, directed
Cell structure
energy deposition (DED) provides good metallurgical bonds, minimal dilution, and a small heat-affected zone. In
this study, to verify the applicability of DED to repair of damaged PBF parts, we repaired sample parts and
observed their tensile properties, hardness, and metallurgical characteristics. First, we designed hot-rolled and
PBF specimens with trapezoidal grooves of varying depth. After filling the groove using DED, the specimens were
tested for tensile properties. We found that in specimens with large groove depths (1 mm and 2 mm), cracks
occurred around the repair due to thermal stresses and oxide inclusion. For this reason, strength and elongation
were lower in these specimens. We also found that the micro-hardness of the deposition zone is greater than the
original hot-rolled specimens and similar to the PBF specimens. The microstructure of the repaired area is mainly
composed of complicated dendrite structures due to irregular nucleation. In addition, dimples were observed in
the fracture surfaces, indicating that ductile fracture occurred. We conclude that the DED process can be em-
ployed to repair damaged 316L stainless steel parts, with the low severity of the damage to be repaired.

1. Introduction 3D components by selectively irradiating high power energy against a

Recently, metal additive manufacturing (AM) techniques have re-
ceived attention for their advantages in fabricating complex-shaped
components that are difficult to make using conventional processes like
rolling, forging, and casting. ASTM divides metal power additive
manufacturing techniques into directed energy deposition (DED) and
powder bed fusion (PBF). DED can fabricate components directly from
CAD models or deposit metal powder region by region. PBF fabricates
bed on which metal powder is spread.
Many studies have dealt with AM processes using metallic materials.
In particular, Ti-6A-4V is widely used in aerospace and medical fields
because of its excellent high-temperature strength and corrosion re-
sistance, but it is difficult to machine and thus using conventional
manufacturing processes to make parts from it is difficult. However,
because this titanium alloy can be deposited well, AM processes can be
used to fabricate components from it [1,2]. AM parts made from 17 to

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: think@kmou.ac.kr (D.S. Shim).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optlastec.2019.04.012
Received 31 December 2018; Received in revised form 20 February 2019; Accepted 7 April 2019
Available online 12 April 2019
0030-3992/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
W.J. Oh, et al.
Fig. 1. (a) Laser metal deposition with coaxial powder feed and (b) experimental setup.
4PH stainless steel more than ever for high-value aerospace or military
components due to its good deposition characteristics [3]. Another
group of studies have actively examined hard-facing techniques which
can improve a die’s surface hardness and corrosion resistance using die
steel powder (H13, M2), thus can increasing tool life [4,5].
This study dealt with 316L stainless steel. As this material can be
widely applied in all industries, a variety of components are already
fabricated using AM processes and studied. Using AM to fabricate 316L
stainless steel parts changes its mechanical and metallurgical properties
depending on the process conditions. Casati, Lemke, and Vedani [6]
examined microstructural defects caused by un-melted particles left
during an SLM (Selective Laser Melting) process with high scanning
speed, and analyzed the effect of those defects on mechanical proper-
ties. Ahmadi et al. [7] studied mechanical properties depending on
process parameters like laser power, scanning speed, and powder feed
rate. Bartolomeu et al. [8] studied on the influence of three different
processing technologies (Selective Laser Melting, Hot pressing and
conventional casting) on mechanical and microstructure properties.
They found that components fabricated using SLM processes had su-
perior mechanical properties compared to those made by hot pressing
or casting. Majumdar, Pinkerton, Liu, Manna and Li [9] compared the
surfaces of DED-fabricated components in terms of major process
parameters such as laser power, scanning speed, and powder feed rate.
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Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 6–17
They also observed the boundary surfaces between deposited layers and
discovered that equiaxed microstructures had formed in both the top
and bottom of a deposited zone. Li, Wang, and Zeng [10] identified
variations in microstructures and mechanical properties by changing
the deposition interval between layers during DED fabrication, and also
showed that components made by DED had superior mechanical
properties to those fabricated conventionally.
Since metallic components manufactured by AM have excellent
mechanical properties, they will like be more widely applied for in-
dustrial purposes. If those components develop cracks, chipping, or
serious abrasion in service, for economic or environmental reasons,
they will need to be repaired for reuse rather than replaced.
Conventional methods of repairing damaged components include
welding, metallizing, and brazing [11–14]. These processes are used
mainly for repairing simple shapes or local regions, but can create pores
and cracks, and an undesirably large heat affected zone around the
repaired area.
Due to the above limitations, a recent trend is using a laser melting
process for repair. Using this process, the heat affected zone of the
substrate can be minimized and a refined structure can be created.
Furthermore, complex shapes can be made by precisely controlling the
laser nozzle. Capello, Colombo, and Previtali [15] researched the re-
pairability of sintering tools using laser cladding with metal wire. They
W.J. Oh, et al.
showed that, if process parameters are correctly chosen, repaired
cladding layers had refined micro-structures without cracks. Leunda,
Soriano, Sanz, and Garcia Navas [16] used a neodymium-doped yttrium
aluminum garnet laser melting repair process, where CPM 10V and
Vanadis 4 powders were deposited on a Vanadis 4 substrate. The mi-
crostructure of the resulting laser-cladded part was similar to a quen-
ched alloy tool steel, which indicated the suitability of laser cladding
for repair work. Kattire, Paul, Singh, and Yan [17] deposited CPM 9V
onto H13 base metal to simulate a damaged press die being repaired.
Vanadium carbide particles improved the hardness of the cladding layer
by about 4 times compared to the base metal, and the residual com-
pressive stress created by the cladding process delayed crack initiation,
thereby extending the life of the die. Yu, Choi, Shim, and Park [18] used
the laser melting deposition process to repair gray cast iron and com-
pared that process with a gas metal arc welding (GMAW)-based
method. A larger heat affected zone was created by the GMAW repair,
and a tensile test revealed that components repaired by laser melting
deposition technique had greater elongation to those repaired by
GMAW.
Until recently, almost all the studies on the application of laser
melting deposition for repair used only conventionally fabricated base
materials and components. No study investigates using DED to repair
AM-fabricated components. This study used DED to repair 316L stain-
less steel specimens fabricated by PBF. This austenitic steel is widely
used in the chemical, maritime, and aerospace industries due to its
excellent corrosion resistance, weldability, and high-temperature
strength [19]. The mechanical properties of the repaired specimens
were analyzed by a tensile test, the fracture surfaces were observed to
analyze failure behaviors, and hardness of the repaired and heat af-
fected zones was observed. The microstructure was also observed to
evaluate its correlation with mechanical properties.
2. Experimental procedure
2.1. DED system for metal deposition
Fig. 1 shows the principles of the DED process and images of the
equipment used for these experiments. A direct metal tooling device
(MX3, Insstek Co., Korea) was used as the laser melting deposition
equipment. This is a five-axis CNC device operated by MX-CAM soft-
ware and including a 4 kW carbon dioxide laser system. It has a powder
supply system comprising three powder hoppers, and powder nozzles
for supplying powder and processing gas. Argon was used to inject the
powder during processing to prevent oxidation. The optical system is
integrated on the head where the powder supply equipment is installed,
and the laser beam and powder are supplied via a 1.0 mm diameter
nozzle 9 mm from the substrate surface. The high-power laser beam
irradiates the powder at the substrate surface, and a melting pool forms.
After the beam passes, the melting pool quickly solidifies, forming the
deposition bead. This is repeated to form a layer. The main process
parameters include laser power, laser beam size, powder feed rate, and
laser scanning speed. The combinations of these parameters affect the
geometric, mechanical, and metallurgical properties of the deposited
material.
2.2. Materials
To evaluate 316L repaired using DED, two types of substrates were
used. One is a hot-rolled bulk material, and the other is fabricated by
PBF. A one process machine (OPM) (Sodic, OPM250L) was used to
make a PBF substrate using laser power 370 W, scanning speed
800 mm/min, and laser diameter 0.2 mm. After the substrate was de-
posited, it was annealed before separating it from the base. The 316L
stainless steel powder used for the repairs had a spherical granules of
45–150 μm diameter. Table 1 presents the chemical composition of the
substrate and metal powder used.
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Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 6–17
2.3. Preparation
Fig. 2 illustrates the DED repair process. To simulate severe com-
ponent wear or cracking, trapezoidal grooves were made across the
substrate using a wire cutting machine. To compare the tensile prop-
erties of the repaired parts according to repair depth, the grooves were
fabricated at depths of 0.5 mm, 1 mm and 2 mm, as shown in Fig. 3. The
DED repair was made to this damaged region. After deposition, un-
necessary deposited material was removed by milling and grinding.
From the repaired substrate, six tensile specimens each type (PBF and
hot-rolled) were made by wire machining, as shown in Fig. 2.
A uniaxial tester (SHIMADZ, AG-IS) was used for the tensile test
with a 2 mm/min loading speed. After the tensile test, the fractured
surfaces of the specimens were observed.
The repaired specimens were cut and polished to a mirror finish,
then microhardness was measured using a micro Vickers hardness tester
(Mitutoyo, HM-122) in accordance with ASTM International standard
test method E384 using a 0.3 kgf load for 10 s.
To observe microstructure, the repaired specimens were cut and the
surface thus obtained was polished using #200–#2400 silicon carbide
polishing paper and 3 μm, then 1 µm polishing cloths. An etching so-
lution (HNO3:6, HCl:1, H2O:3) was used at 3 V voltage and 2 A current.
The macro- and micro-structure of the etched surface was observed
using an optical microscope (Nikon, ECLIPSE LV150) and a scanning
electron microscope (SEM, TESCAN, MIRA 3). As stainless steel has
excellent corrosion resistance, it hardly corroded during immersion
etching. In order to identify the fractions of austenite and ferrite phases,
grain sizes, and crystallographic orientations electron backscatter dif-
fractometry analysis was performed. The repair zone and substrate
compositions were analyzed using an energy dispersive X-ray spectro-
meter (EDS, EDAX). Samples for backscatter diffractometry were po-
lished by an electrolytic polisher (Struers, LectroPol-5) in an electrolyte
A3 (perchloric acid:60 ml, methanol:600 ml, butoxyethanol:360 ml) for
30 s at 25 V voltage and 1.4 A current.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of process parameters on multi-layer deposition
In order to establish the best conditions for repairing, multi-layer
deposition experiments were conducted while varying the main process
parameters: laser power (P), powder feed rate (PR), coaxial gas flow
rate (CG) and scanning speed (SS). The goal was to analyze deposition
characteristics according to process conditions. A rectangular cuboid
with width, length, and height of 10 mm, 20 mm and 1.5 mm, respec-
tively was deposited. The deposition height and defects (pores or
cracks) of the cross-section were observed using an optical microscope.
Fig. 4 illustrates the cross sections of the DED parts under different
process conditions. As shown in Fig. 4(a), when the laser power (P)
increased from 700 to 900 W, the height of the DED part also increased
because a larger amount of powder was melted and deposited at a
constant powder feed rate (PR). At low laser power, the height of DED
part was lower than the design height (1.5 mm). Fig. 4(b) shows that
the DED part height increases with increasing powder feed rate (PR)
because when PR increases under a constant laser power, a larger
amount of powder melted. However, when PR was excessive (≥6.5 g/
min), the DED part exceeded the design height. Fig. 4(c) displays the
deposition characteristics according to coaxial gas flow rate. Unlike the
previous two process conditions, when coaxial gas flow rate (GR) in-
creased from 4 to 6 L/min, the DED part was lower than the design
height. This was because, as the coaxial gas flow rate increased, the
amount of powder reaching the melting pool decreased. As shown in
Fig. 4(d), when the scanning speed (SS) increased from 650 to
1050 mm/min, the height of DED part tended to decrease. This ten-
dency was attributed to the fact that increasing SS leads to both de-
creased heat input and powder feed rate, and thus the melting time
W.J. Oh, et al. Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 6–17

Table 1
Chemical composition of substrate materials [% by weight].
Material C Si Mn P S Cr Ni Mo Cu N

316L stainless-steel (powder) 0.019 0.68 1.23 0.013 0.004 17.8 12.8 2.36 0.05 0.1
316L stainless-steel (substrate) 0.017 0.67 0.61 0.037 0.001 16.44 10.01 2.05 0.33 0.011

Fig. 2. Repairing procedures and fabrication of tensile specimens.

Fig. 3. Schematic of pre-machined substrate.

decreased. 3.2. Microstructure

According to the results of multi-layer deposition experiments with
varying process parameters, it was found that the design height could
be satisfied by an appropriate combination of process parameters, and
although no large cracks were observed, micro pores occurred under
certain conditions. As the powder was melted and solidified using the
laser, a keyhole collapse occurred causing the gas to be entrapped in the
molten pool, which solidifies quickly. This leads to the formation of
pores within the deposited material. This study used the same process
parameters for the repairs as were used in the deposition experiments
wherein design height was satisfied and no pores occurred. Table 2
presents the details of the parameters used.
Fig. 5 shows the cross section of hot-rolled specimens repaired by
DED, according to repair depth. The hot-rolled sample (R-DED-0.5) of
Fig. 5(a) was repaired at 0.5 mm depth, while those (R-DED-1.0, R-
DED-2.0) of Fig. 5(b) and (c) were repaired at 1.0 mm and 2.0 mm,
respectively. R-DED-0.5 showed no cracking, indicating that the me-
tallurgical bonding between the substrate and the repair zone was ex-
cellent. On the other hand, both R-DED-1.0 and R-DED-2.0 exhibited
cracks at the interface, and the cracks were larger for deeper repair
zones. This is in contrast to the results presented in Fig. 4, where there
was no pronounced delamination crack even when the height of the
DED part was higher than 2 mm. Considering the geometry of the
groove used in this study, the delamination cracks in Fig. 5 probably
occurred probably due to the combined effects of the geometric notch

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W.J. Oh, et al. Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 6–17

Fig. 4. Results of multi-layer depositions with varying process parameters: (a) laser power (PR 4.5 g/min, CG 6 L/min and SS 850 mm/min); (b) powder flow rate (P
900 W, CG 6 L/min, SS 850 mm/min); (c) coaxial gas flow rate (P 900 W, PR 4.5 g/min, SS 850 mm/min); and (d) scanning speed (P 900 W, PR 4.5 g/min, CG 6 L/
min).

Table 2 effect on the top of the DED/substrate interface as well as the residual
Values of process parameters for repairing. stress in the DED repair due to thermal shrinkage after deposition. The
Process parameters Value
delamination cracks in hot-rolled and PBF substrates with repair depths
1 mm and 2 mm (P-DED-1.0, 2.0 and R-DED-1.0, 2.0) may be able to be
Laser power (W) 900 inhibited by optimizing the groove geometry. Fig. 6 presents the SEM
Powder feed rate (g/min) 4.5 micrograph of the repaired trapezoidal groove. Fig. 6 (a) and (b) show
Scanning speed (mm/min) 850
Coaxial gas flow rate(ℓ/min) 6.0
representative low magnification (x200) images of the R-DED-0.5 and
P-DED-0.5 specimens, respectively. Both microstructures reveal three
distinguishable zones of substrate, dilution, and heat affected zones
(HAZ). The dilution zone is where the substrate is expected to be molten
during the deposition of the first DED layer, thus there might be mixing

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W.J. Oh, et al.
Fig. 5. Micro-image of cross-sections of repaired hot-rolled specimens: (a) R-DED-0.5; (b) R-DED-1.0; and (c) R-DED-2.0.
between the molten powder and the substrate in the melt pool. A very
thin HAZ with a thickness of 10–20 μm is also clearly observable in both
the samples right below the dilution zone, indicating the highly loca-
lized heating and rapid cooling during the DED process. Fig. 6(c) and
(d) show the microstructures of the hot-rolled and PBF substrates, re-
spectively. The hot-rolled substrate consists of equiaxed austenite
grains with etching bands along the hot-rolling direction, which is ty-
pical of hot-rolled 316L stainless steel, whereas there are clear signs of
the beads formed during laser processing in the PBF substrate, as ex-
pected. Fig. 6(e) and (f) show the microstructures of DED specimens
near the interface of the substrate. The two samples show no significant
difference in the DED-repaired area. Fig. 6(f) shows the deposited zone
near the interface of the repaired PBF specimen, indicating that there
was firstly columnar grain growth from the interface between the bead
and the substrate followed by equiaxed solidification near the center of
the bead. Relatively low solidification rates result in columnar/den-
dritic structures near the track perimeter. Since the melt pool boundary
is large at the onset of solidification, the heat flux is more unidirectional
away from the center of the molten core, influencing grain elongation
in this direction. In regions near the melt pool center, fine equiaxed
structures (cellular structure) are observed [20].
Fig. 7(a) and (b) provide the 2nd and 3rd layer microstructures of
DED zone. Both the 2nd and 3rd deposition layers show that the grain
in each bead tends to change its columnar shape to an equiaxed one. In
the columnar region, it is seen that some grains were grown epitaxially
from the layer/layer interface due to the fast heat dissipation through
the interface. The existence of the equiaxed grains indicate an occur-
rence of the homogenous nucleation by rapid solidification during the
process.
To examine the difference in the alloying elements of the repaired
specimens, an EDS line scan was performed for the interface between R-
DED and P-DED samples. As is clear from the EDS results in Fig. 8, the
hot-rolled substrate and the repair zone formed by the laser melting
deposition had different compositions. As shown in Fig. 8(b), the R-DED
specimen consisted of nonuniform distribution of nickel and mo-
lybdenum. This is because, as presented in Table 1, the powder con-
tained more of these elements than the substrate. On the other hand,
the composition of the P-DED specimen in Fig. 8(d) showed that every
element was uniformly distributed. The difference in composition is
attributable to the processes. In the laser melting deposition, the fast
cooling speed created the uniform composition of each bead resulting in
little segregation.
Figs. 9 and 10 present the inverse pole figures and misorientation
angle distribution of the R-DED and P-DED samples. Fig. 9(a) is the
grain morphology of the R-DED specimen. The columnar grain of the
DED part was vertically formed in the building direction due to the
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Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 6–17
rapid cooling of the laser melting deposition. As shown in Fig. 9(b) and
(c), most of grain boundaries were found to exhibit very high mis-
orientation angles. Meanwhile, the DED part of the P-DED specimen
mainly generated equiaxed grains as shown in Fig. 10(a). As is clear in
inverse pole figure maps, the microstructure exists not in a cell form but
in a large-sized grain form. The microstructure of the repaired DED part
does not seem to have any dominant crystallographic orientation. As
shown in Fig. 10(b) and (c), most of grain boundaries were found to
exhibit very low misorientation angles. This indicates that the PBF
specimen consisted of find sub-cell grain structures divided by low-
angle grain boundaries occurring by very fast cooling and solidification
during the process, as pointed out by Bertoli et al. [21]. The difference
of grain structures may affect the mechanical properties of the hot-
rolled and PBF samples. In terms of grain size, the PBF specimen has
more refined grains than the hot-rolled. In addition, as shown in
Fig. 11(a), for the R-DED specimen, face centered cubic (FCC) austenite
phase was dominantly observed with a relatively small amount of body
centered cubic (BCC) ferrite phase. Nevertheless, few ferrite phases
were observed in the P-DED specimen as shown in Fig. 11(b).
3.3. Micro hardness
Fig. 12 illustrates the variations of micro-hardness in the hot-rolled,
DED, and PBF specimens at each depth. Both DED and PBF specimens
showed an average hardness of 230HV, while the hot-rolled specimen
had an average hardness of 192HV, lower than the PBF specimen by
40HV. The reason the hardness of DED and PBF specimens was higher
than that of the hot-rolled specimen was the effect of grain size. As
shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the grain size of the hot-rolled specimen was
bigger than those of the DED and PBF specimens. For this reason, the
Hall-Petch effect increased hardness. Moreover, as the difference of
composition in Fig. 8 clarified, DED and PBF parts contained more
nickel than the hot-rolled part. The hardness increased also due to the
solid solution strengthening effect. Fig. 13 presents the variation in
microhardness with the depth from the top surface of R-DED and P-DED
specimens. As shown in Fig. 13(a), the hardness of R-DED specimens
tended to decrease near the substrate. There is no pronounced hardness
drop near the HAZ. As shown in Fig. 13(b), the hardness of P-DED
specimens tended to increase near the substrate.
3.4. Tensile properties
Fig. 14 shows the results of the tensile test for the hot-rolled and PBF
specimens fabricated at different repair depths (0.5 mm, 1 mm, and
2 mm). When the PBF and hot-rolled specimens were compared before
repair, the yield stress of the PBF specimen was 529 MPa, 178% higher
W.J. Oh, et al. Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 6–17

Fig. 6. SEM micrographs of the microstructure of the repaired trapezoidal groove zone; (a) and (b): low magnification of the parallel part of the groove in R-DED-0.5
and P-DED-0.5specimens; (c) and (d): microstructure of R-DED-0.5 and P-DED-0.5 specimens in substrate; (e) and (f): microstructure near the layer interface of R-
DED-0.5 and P-DED-0.5 specimen substrate.

Fig. 7. SEM micrographs of the DED repair: (a) microstructure of 1st–3rd layer; (b) microstructure of 2nd–4th layer.

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W.J. Oh, et al. Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 6–17

Fig. 8. EDS results of specimens: (a), (b) R-DED; (c), (d) P-DED.

than that of the hot-rolled. On the other hand, the tensile strength of the
PBF sample was 709 MPa, 4% lower than that of the hot-rolled. The
elongation of the PBF specimen was 44%, 20% lower than that of the
hot-rolled specimen. In addition, higher strain hardening was observed
in hot-rolled specimens. These differences are attributable to the
characteristics of the laser melting deposition process and the corre-
sponding difference in microstructures. Unlike the hot-rolled specimen,
the microstructure size of the PBF specimen is as small as 13 µm, thus
the PBF specimen tends to have high strength and a low elongation [8].
Likewise, in this study, the Hall-Petch effect decreased the grain size
and the dislocation density increased. Consequently, dislocation motion
became difficult. Thus, the material strength increased.
For tensile properties at different repair depths, both materials (R-
DED and P-DED) showed decreased tensile strength, yield strength, and
elongation with the increase of the repair depth. In particular, R-DED-
1.0, 2.0 and P-DED-1.0, 2.0 all showed cracks (Fig. 5(b) and (c)) in the
interface between the substrate and the repair zone, and displayed a
significant decrease in both strength and elongation. This phenomenon
can be identified in the fractured specimens as shown in Fig. 15, where
the fracture of the R-DED-0.5 specimen occurred at the center of the

Fig. 9. Inverse pole figure of specimens: (a) R-DED; (b) hot-rolled substrate; (c) misorientation angle distribution of hot-rolled substrate.

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Fig. 10. Inverse pole figure of specimens: (a) P-DED; (b) PBF substrate; (c) misorientation angle distribution of PBF substrate.

repair zone. Respectively, the decrease of both strength and elongation

of R-DED-0.5 was about 5% and 15%, compared to the hot-rolled
specimen. In addition, for the P-DED-0.5 specimen, the decrease rates of
elongation and tensile strength were only about 5% and 3%, respec-
tively, compared to the PBF specimen. On the other hand, the R-DED-
1.0 and 2.0 samples fractured at the interface slope (side face of the
repair region) because of the interfacial crack. This crack was caused by
thermal stress resulting from repeated melting and solidification cycles
during laser powder deposition. Thus, when a load was applied, the
cracked specimen was easily ruptured because of stress concentration at
the crack. Accordingly, both strength and elongation significantly de-
creased for the R-DED-1.0 and 2.0 samples.
Fig. 16 presents magnified images of the fractured surfaces of R-
DED-0.5 and P-DED-0.5 specimens. The fractured P-DED-0.5 sample
had pores (white circles) in the substrate. Those pores were caused by
high laser power and non-melted powder. For this reason, elongation
decreased after repair. Fig. 17 magnifies the repair zones, the heat af-
fected zones, and the substrates of the fractured R-DED-0.5 and P-DED- Fig. 12. Variation in hardness values of hot-rolled, DED, and PBF specimens.

Fig. 11. Phase map of specimens: (a) R-DED; (b) P-DED.

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W.J. Oh, et al. Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 6–17

Fig. 13. Microhardness distribution of (a) R-DED and (b) P-DED specimens.
Fig. 14. Stress-strain curve of (a) R-DED specimen and (b) P-DED specimen.

0.5specimens. In the case of R-DED-0.5, dimples were observed in the

DED portion and the substrate (hot-rolled). However, the HAZ shows
dimples and a quasi-cleavage simultaneously, which are ductile and
brittle fracture behaviors, respectively. In the case of the P-DED-0.5
specimen, dimples were observed in the DED portion, HAZ, and sub-
strate (PBF). Meanwhile, in the PBF substrate, quasi-cleavage was ob-
served with small dimples. When comparing the R-DED substrate and P-
DED substrate, the dimples that occurred in P-DED are smaller, which
led to the low elongation in those specimens.
The above results reveal that, as the number of melting-cooling
cycles increased with each pass of the laser, the thermal stress near the
interface increased. Consequently, as the repair depth increased, so did
the number of necessary deposition layers, which enhanced the possi-
bility of cracking. For this reason, the mechanical properties of the
repair specimens deteriorated more. However, in this study, when the
repair depth was 0.5 mm (three-layers deposited), the mechanical
Fig. 15. Macro image of R-DED-0.5, R-DED-1.0 and R-DED-2.0 specimens after
properties did not show any significant change between before and tensile testing.
after repair. In such a case, the DED repair process seemed to be sui-
table for SUS316L components.
analyzed and tensile testing was performed. In addition, the specimen
microstructures were analyzed to evaluate the mechanical properties of
4. Conclusions the repaired samples. The results can be summarized as follows:

This study analyzed the characteristics of laser melting deposition
using 316L stainless steel powder with different process conditions to
determine the appropriate process conditions for repairs. A damaged
SUS316L part was simulated by machining a groove to be repaired onto
the substrate. Subsequently, DED was used to repair the simulated da-
mage zone using the SUS316L powder. To identify the characteristics of
the DED-based repair work, the hardness of the repaired specimens was
(1) Multilayer deposition experiments were conducted with varying
process parameters. It was found that the design height was sa-
tisfied with the following conditions: laser power, 900 W; powder
feed rate, 4.5 g/min; scanning speed, 850 mm/min; and coaxial gas,
6 L/min. No large cracks were observed.
(2) No cracks were observed at the interface of the repaired samples

15
W.J. Oh, et al.
Fig. 16. Macro-fractography of repaired specimen: (a) R-DED-0.5, (b) P-DED-0.5.
Fig. 17. Micro-fractography of fractured specimens: (a) R-DED-0.5 and (b) P-DED-0.5.
with a 0.5 mm groove depth. In contrast, the specimens with 1.0
and 2.0 mm repair depths exhibited cracking at the interface be-
tween the repair zone and the substrate, regardless of the substrate
type, and the cracks were larger for the deeper repair zones.
(3) The strength and elongation of the 0.5 mm repair depth specimen
was approximately 95% and 85% of the hot-rolled material, re-
spectively. For the PBF specimen, the decreased rates of elongation
and tensile strength were approximately 5% and 3%, respectively,
compared to that of the original PBF material. These small de-
gradation rates of the repaired samples can be attributed to the
micro-pores in the repaired zone. In contrast, the 1.0 and 2.0 mm
repair depth samples fractured at the interface slope (side face of
the repair region) because of the interfacial cracking. Accordingly,
both the strength and elongation significantly decreased.
For the 0.5 mm repair depth samples (three layers deposited), the
mechanical properties did not show any significant change before and
after repair. Therefore, the DED process was somewhat suitable for
repairing the damaged SUS316L components. Future work should in-
volve developing a method to prevent the formation of pores or cracks
16
Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 6–17
at the interfaces for deeper repairs. A possible approach may involve
preheating the substrate or post-deposition heat treatment to reduce the
cooling rate, regardless of the repair depth. As another strategy to
prevent interfacial cracking during DED repair, we plan to investigate
the effect of different groove shapes (trapezoidal or rounded) for re-
pairs.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of
Korea (NRF) under grant number 2017R1C1B5076047 from the
Ministry of Science and ICT. Additional support through the Ministry of
Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Korea Institute for
Advancement of Technology (KIAT) through the European
International R&D Collaboration (G02P03040000701) is gratefully ac-
knowledged.
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