Laser weldability of dissimilar parts produced with different techniques from 316L material was studied in this paper. Butt joint welding was performed on pairs of sheet metal and parts produced with additive manufacturing by laser powder bed fusion. The effect of heat treatment was also considered and the stage in which it was applied. The experiments showed very good weldability and the results were verified with microstructural analysis and tensile testing with digital image correlation equipment. Microstructures of the welds revealed morphology consisting of equiaxed and columnar grains in somewhat random orientation. Tensile tests showed that the 75% higher yield strength of the printed material compared to sheet metal leads to uneven elongation of the dissimilar joint and the part breaks from the sheet metal side. Hardness measurements showed higher values for the printed side (225 HV) compared to sheet metal side (170 HV). All the welded specimens broke outside of the welds showing a good weldability independent of the heat treatment stage.

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This paper focuses on the laser weldability of additively manufactured (AM) Inconel 718. The experiments of this research were conducted on different series of AM Inconel 718 alloy, i.e. as­-built, heat­ treated (HT), and HT after welding, and comprehensively characterized using optical microscope and electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD). The weld morphology and microstruc­tural evolution of the fusion zone were recorded. The mechanical properties of the welded AM Inconel 718 were evaluated by tensile tests and hardness measurements. It was found that solidification crack and micropore defects are induced in the as­built AM Inconel 718. However, defect­free weld was promoted in the HT alloy. The changes in hardness profiles and tensile strength under the experimen­tal parameters were further reported. Homogenous hardness of 500 HV across the weld was obtained when HT was applied after the LW.

This paper focuses on a study conducted on laser welding of printed 316L parts that were produced with a selective laser melting process. Commercial sheet material was used as a reference for the printed 316L parts. The effect of heat treatment on joint properties, and on what stage of the process it should be applied, was studied with metallography and mechanical testing. Optical microscopy was applied to analyze the microstructure of the base material and the weld seam. Tensile testing was applied for determining monotonic strength of different structures. The printed base material showed higher strength, but lower ductility in comparison to the commercial sheet material. In the welded condition, tensile properties were impaired by the welding, but for the commercial sheet material, no clear effects were seen. The difference was hypothesized to be caused by the higher strength mismatch in the printed joints. For the welded structures, the best strength-ductility combination was achieved by heat treating the parts both before and after the laser welding.