A review on tribological behaviour of mechanical components obtained by additive manufacturing

Abstract

Technology based on additive manufacturing is rapidly emerging and is being used in a wide range of industries. Meeting the precision and accuracy (P&A) requirements of 3D printed parts (shape and size tolerances, surface quality, etc.) is increasingly becoming an issue. This paper presents a critical analysis of the tribological problems encountered in 3D printing for parts manufactured through different types of technologies, such as powder bed fusion, binder jetting, direct energy deposition, material jetting, fused filament fabrication, vat photopolymerization, sheet lamination, and ultrasonic consolidation. For all these additive manufacturing technologies, this paper will present a brief description, classification, examples of materials used, and tribological problems of the obtained machine parts.