Directional reflectance microscopy of stainless steel

The usage of stainless steel and its alloys, particularly SS 316L, over the years are consistently high due to the desirable combination of its high corrosion resistance and ease of fabrication. With these properties, it is without doubt that SS316L is selected for use in the development in metal 3D...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cheong, Wai Leong
Other Authors: Matteo Seita
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142053
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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Summary:The usage of stainless steel and its alloys, particularly SS 316L, over the years are consistently high due to the desirable combination of its high corrosion resistance and ease of fabrication. With these properties, it is without doubt that SS316L is selected for use in the development in metal 3D printing. Because of this, it has attracted the use of directional reflectance microscopy (DRM), an advanced optical microscopy technique which measures grain reflectance in optical micrographs, to characterize the material. DRM is a relatively new optical microscopy based characterization technique, developed in 2017. Hence, the aim of this study is to investigate the suitability of DRM for the characterization of SS 316L. The provided 3D printed sample’s cross-sectional surface was grinded, polished and prepared to a mirror finish and chemically etched in Marble's Reagent. The effect of the etchant was observed from the visible contrast of the grains presented in optical micrographs for evaluation. Next, the reflectance of selected grains are visualized in the form of directional reflectance profiles (DRP), which is obtained from a custom coded MATLAB program.