Investigation of hybrid manufacturing of stainless steel 316L components using direct energy deposition

Direct energy deposition has been established as one of the methods for additive manufacturing metallic parts. The combination of direct energy deposition capabilities with traditional machining centre capabilities has enabled over the past few years the creation of hybrid manufacturing cells that are able to additively manufacture and finish machine components under one platform. This article investigates the production of geometries using a hybrid, additive and subtractive approach. The parameters for depositing stainless steel 316L are initially investigated followed by an assessment of machinability of the additively manufactured material. Finally, the quality of the deposited and machined material was thoroughly examined with a series of destructive and non-destructive methods.