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Influence of powder type and binder saturation on binder jet 3D–printed and sintered Inconel 625 samples

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Abstract

Binder jet 3D printing combined with post-deposition sintering is a non-beam additive manufacturing (AM) method for the creation of complex 3-dimensional structures. Binder saturation and particle morphology are two important factors affecting the quality of printed parts. Here, we investigated the effects of binder saturation on dimension accuracy, porosity, microstructure, and microhardness of nickel-based alloy 625 samples made of differently atomized powders. Argon gas atomized (GA) and water atomized (WA) nickel-based alloy 625 powders were used to binder jet samples for a detailed comparative study. The optimal binder saturation for WA system is 60 to 70%, whereas for GA system the optimal is about 80%. Generally, GA samples achieved better overall quality than WA samples in terms of packing density, dimensional accuracy, sintered density, and microhardness. This difference is attributed mainly to the particle morphology including sphericity and roundness. The critical threshold for visible binder bleeding phenomenon in WA and GA systems is determined to be 120% and 140% binder saturation, respectively. Mechanisms for binder bleeding phenomenon at different saturation levels for WA and GA systems are discussed in detail. A pore evolution model is proposed to better understand the printing and sintering processes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was performed, in part, at the Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization Facility, a laboratory of the Gertrude E. and John M. Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering, the Materials Micro-Characterization Laboratory and the ANSYS Additive Manufacturing Research Laboratory, all part of the University of Pittsburgh. The authors are grateful to Pierangeli Rodriguez De Vecchis for stimulating discussions.

Funding

This project was funded in part by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development through the Manufacturing PA Initiative as well as the Air Force Research Laboratory under agreement number FA8650-12-2-7230 and by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, acting through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, under contract number C000053981. LM appreciates partial funding through the NSF, award 1727676.

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Author notes

  1. Runbo Jiang

    Present address: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA

    Runbo Jiang, Lorenzo Monteil, Katerina Kimes & Markus Chmielus

  2. Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, 10 W 32nd Street, Chicago, IL, 60616, USA

    Amir Mostafaei

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  1. Runbo Jiang
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  2. Lorenzo Monteil
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Contributions

Runbo Jiang: writing: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, visualization, supervision, writing—original draft. Lorenzo Monteil: investigation, analysis. Katerina Kimes: conceptualization, writing—review and editing, visualization. Amir Mostafaei: conceptualization, methology, supervision. Markus Chmielus: conceptualization, project administration, funding acquisition, supervision, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Markus Chmielus.

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Jiang, R., Monteil, L., Kimes, K. et al. Influence of powder type and binder saturation on binder jet 3D–printed and sintered Inconel 625 samples. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 116, 3827–3838 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-07496-3

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