Wear Behavior of Austenitic Stainless Steel 316L Plates Fabricated by Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) of stainless steel has been gaining industry attention in recent years due to the need to manufacture complex steel components. Many sectors stand to benefit from the design flexibility, customization, and rapid production capabilities of AM. However, the industry's adoption of this technology remains limited due to concerns about the mechanical integrity and reliability of AM products. This experimental study examines the wear and tribological behavior of Wire Arc Additive Manufactured (WAAM) austenitic stainless steel 316L. Pin-on-disk tests were conducted using a 5 mm tungsten carbide ball under dry sliding conditions at normal loads of 1.5 and 2.5 N and sliding speeds between 0.03 and 0.229 m/s. The results showed that the coefficient of friction remained relatively stable at approximately 0.6, while wear volume generally decreased with increasing sliding speed. Lower normal loads resulted in lower wear volume, whereas the wear factor showed only limited sensitivity to the applied load. Optical microscopy revealed a ferrite-austenite microstructure with residual δ-ferrite that contributes to the observed wear behavior. These findings demonstrate the suitability of WAAM-produced 316L stainless steel for tribological applications requiring stable frictional performance.