Feasibility study of Directed Energy Deposition for stainless steel sheet reinforcement

The objective of this study is to reinforce a thin sheet of AISI 304 stainless steel by means of a series of depositions of AISI 316L stainless steel powder using Directed Energy Deposition. The experiment is divided into different phases: at first the right process parameters have to be correctly set up; secondly, the different test pieces have to be produced; at last, all the samples have to be tested in the bending machine and analysed under the microscope to understand the differences among the various geometries of deposition considered. Results suggest that the use of this production technology can be a viable solution to increase the bending stiffness of a thin sheet of stainless steel.