Open Access

Fabian Eichler, Nicolae Balc, Sebastian Bremen, Markus Schleser, Alexander Schwarz

• In the face of the current trend towards larger and more complex production tasks in the SLM process and the current limitations in terms of maximum build space, the welding of SLM components to each other or to conventionally manufactured parts is becoming increasingly relevant. The fusion welding of SLM components made of 316L has so far been rarely investigated and if so, then for highly specialised laser welding processes. When welding with industrial gas welding processes such as MIG/MAG or TIG welding, distortions occur which are associated with the resulting residual stresses in the components. This paper investigates process-side influencing factors to avoid resulting residual stresses in SLM components made of 316L. The aim is to develop a strategy to build up SLM components as stress-free as possible in order to join them as profitably as possible with a downstream welding process. For this purpose, influencing parameters such as laser power, scan speed, but also scan vector length and different scan patterns are investigated with regard to their influence on residual stresses.