Energy release as a parameter for fatigue design of additive manufactured metals

Additive manufacturing (AM) is spreading in a wide range of industrial fields. The influence of the printing parameters on the mechanical performance is still an open issue among researchers, particularly when dealing with fatigue loads, which can lead to an unexpected failure. Classical fatigue tests require a large amount of time and materials to be consumed. Compared to the traditional fatigue assessment, the thermographic method (TM) is able to derive in a very rapid way the SN curve and fatigue limit of the material monitoring its energetic release during fatigue tests. In this work, for the first time, the energetic release during fatigue test has been evaluated in specimens made of AISI 316L, obtained by SLM technique. Compared to literature data, the specimens show premature failure, even at low stress levels, with brittle fracture surfaces. The internal microstructure seems to be strictly related to the energetic release of the material.