The additive manufacturing method laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is known to introduce large residual stresses in the built component. Optimization of process parameters and subsequent heat treatment is crucial to relieve these residual stresses. However, many of the available tools used to analyze these residual stresses are either prohibitively expensive, or too time consuming for initial prototyping stages.

A qualitative method for rapid evaluation of the effectiveness of stress relief heat treatment of L-PBF manufactured 316L has been tested. Residual stress induced distortion has been measured with contact and non-contact methods to study the effect of different stress relief heat treatment temperatures (600–950 °C, fixed holding time: 1 h). Over the examined temperature interval, at which deformation was measured, distinct differences were observable at each temperature with both methods. Based on the distortion, shape stability was considered reached after subjecting the test geometry to a heat treatment temperature of 900 °C for 1 hour. Complementary mechanical testing and microstructural characterization were carried out to provide a more general understanding of the implications of each heat treatment temperature. Microstructural characterization revealed that complete dissolution of the cellular sub-grain features occurred at the same temperature as where the minimum magnitude of distortion was obtained.