Solid State Sintered 3-D Printing Component by Using Inkjet (Binder) Method

Abstract

Additive manufacturing of metal components is commonly performed by laser or electron beam melting for direct consolidation of powders, but there are also other techniques available, e.g. the ink-jet on powder bed used by Digital Metal ® . Höganäs Digital Metal has been involved in additive manufacturing since 2010, with a technology that utilizes separate forming and consolidation processes. Precision inkjet on powder bed is used for production of green components, and these components are then sintered to obtain final density and strength. The technique is successfully used to produce components in 316L stainless steel, but basically all types of metals or alloys, available as powders with suitable morphology and particle size can be used to print components. The following sintering process then can be optimized for each individual alloy, making processing of a wide selection of alloys possible. In this study, possibilities and challenges with different alloys are discussed.

A Review on Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing of 316L Stainless Steel

“…Metal binder jetting is promising to lower manufacturing cost and lead time for complex geometry and design compared to the conventional manufacturing method [11]. One of the most common alloys in numerous industries is SS 316L which has been studied by many researchers [27]. However, breakthroughs in BJ of SS 316L has not been summarized and reviewed yet to the best knowledge of authors.…”

“…This can be done by reducing porosity and preventing Cr loss. 316L can obtain near full density if sintering profile is appropriately adopted [27,55,56]. For example, loss of Cr has to be prohibited through applying partial pressure of Ar in vacuum sintering.…”

“…Unlike PBF processes which apply laser or electron beam to melt metal powders, no power heat source involved during the BJ building process, thus BJ can work with a wide range of metals and is regarded as one of the most cost-effective AM techniques [5,12,14,26,31,32]. Furthermore, the surrounding powder sufficiently supports any overhanging geometry in the powder bed and eliminates the need for support structure design [5,27]. BJ printing process can be accelerated by increasing the number of print head nozzles [5,12].…”

“…BJ printing process can be accelerated by increasing the number of print head nozzles [5,12]. Since the printing process performs at room temperature, no residual stress or distortion is introduced to the part due to thermal gradients [4,5,12,27]. Unbonded powders are fully recyclable so that can be used [26].…”

Analysis of the technological and morphological peculiarities of bronzed powders production from the swarf wastes

“…This effect allows the printing of metallized inks and bronzing. Metallic pigments used in bronzing are powders obtained using various technologies [1][2][3]. Metal particles are relatively recently used in printing, but the result makes itself felt [4][5][6].…”