The Corrosion of Stainless Steel Made by Additive Manufacturing: A Review

The advantages of additive manufacturing (AM) of metals over traditional manufacturing methods have triggered many relevant studies comparing the mechanical properties, corrosion behavior, and microstructure of metals produced by AM or traditional manufacturing methods. This review focuses exclusively on the corrosion property of AM-fabricated stainless steel by comprehensively analyzing the relevant literature. The principles of various AM processes, which have been adopted in the corrosion study of stainless steel, and the corrosion behaviors of stainless steel depending on the AM process, the stainless steel type, and the corrosion environment are summarized. In this comprehensive analysis of relevant literature, we extract dominant experimental factors and the most relevant properties affecting the corrosion of AM-fabricated stainless steel. In selective laser melting, the effects of the scan speed, laser power, energy density, and the post-treatment technologies are usually investigated. In direct laser deposition, the most relevant papers focused on the effect of heat treatments on passive films and the Cr content. There has been no specific trend in the corrosion study of stainless steel that is fabricated by other AM processes, such as wire arc additive manufacturing. Given the rising utilization of AM-produced metal parts, the corrosion issue will be more important in the future, and this review should provide a worthwhile basis for future works.