Additive Manufacturing and Mechanical Performance of Trifurcated Steel Joints for Architecturally Exposed Steel Structures

Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology has unique advantages in producing complex joints in architecturally exposed steel structures. This article focuses on the process of manufacturing and investigating the mechanical properties of a reduced scale model of a trifurcated joint using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) method and mechanical tests, respectively. The orthogonal test method was used to optimize the main AM process parameters. Then the trifurcated steel joint was printed using the optimal process parameters and treated by solid solution and aging treatment. To investigate the mechanical performance of the printed joint, an axial compression test and complimentary finite element analyses were carried out. Failure processes and failure mechanisms of the trifurcated steel joint were discussed in detail. The research results show that the preferred process parameters for printing 316L stainless steel powder are: scanning power 150 W, scanning speed 700 mm/s, and scanning pitch 0.09 mm. Using these AM parameters, trifurcated steel joints with good surface quality, geometrical accuracy and tensile strength are obtained after heat treatment. Our mechanical tests and Finite element analyses results indicate that the failure mechanism in the AM trifurcated joint are similar to those of cast steel joints. Based on these results, we conclude that the AM technology serves as a promising new way for the fabrication of joints with complex geometries.