Experimental and Simulation Analysis of Hot Isostatic Pressing of Gas Atomized Stainless Steel 316L Powder Compacts

In this work, both experimental and numerical studies were conducted to investigate the densification behavior of stainless steel 316L (STS 316L) powders during hot isostatic pressing (HIP), and to characterize the mechanical properties of HIPed specimens. The HIP experiments were conducted with gas atomized STS 316L powders with spherical particle shaped under controlled pressure and temperature conditions. The mechanical properties of HIPed samples were determined on a series of tensile tests, and the results were compared to a reference STS 316L sample prepared by the conventional process, i.e., extrusion and annealing process. Corresponding microstructures before and after tensile tests were observed using scanning electron microscopy and their relationships to the mechanical properties were addressed. Furthermore, a finite element simulation based on the power-law creep model was carried out to predict the density distribution and overall shape change of the STS316L power compact during HIP process, which agreed well with the experimental results.