Building-Direction Dependence of Wear Resistance of Selective Laser Melted AISI 316L Stainless Steel Under Quasi-stationary Condition

This study aims at exploring the wear performance of AISI 316L stainless steel fabricated via selective laser melting along different directions with respect to the building direction and via post annealing. Here, the wear resistance of the material was investigated via ball-on-disk tribology tests under a quasi-stationary condition, i.e., with linear sliding speeds in the range of 25–100 mm/s. The results revealed that, regardless the sliding direction and annealing heat treatment, the wear resistance of the alloy produced via the selective laser melting process is comparable to that of the cold-rolled alloy. Thus, the selective laser melting process can be used for applications where conventionally processed 316L alloys have been used under fretting or a quasi-static wear environment.