Selective laser melted 316L stainless steel: Influence of surface and inner defects on fatigue behavior

In additive manufacturing, despite its several indisputable advantages, detrimental variables to fatigue strength still remain poor surface finishing and porosities. However, because the majority of defects locate close to the surface, their mechanical removal is expected to appreciably improve fatigue strength. Considering SLMed 316L, fully-reversed rotating-bending fatigue tests in both as-built and machined conditions are performed. Fatigue failures are discussed using the Kitagawa-Takahashi diagram. In each condition, the fatigue stress is related to the equivalent micro-notch length of the killer defect. Then, this work analyses the possibility of predicting fatigue limits at 50 % probability considering the equivalent micro-notch length.