A review of binder jet process parameters; powder, binder, printing and sintering condition

Abstract

Binder jetting is a subset of additive manufacturing and is a suitable technique for the construction of metallic, ceramic and polymeric composite materials. In this rapid prototyping method, a binder is selectively deposited onto the powder bed, bonding these areas together to form a solid part one layer at a time usually based on a CAD model. Selection of appropriate parameters in order to obtain the final product with desired quality and proper construction time is a challenge, which is due to high influences of binder jetting process parameters on the quality of fabricated objects. Powder characteristics such as particle packing, green strength, particle size distribution, and also wettability and flow ability of powder, as well as binder characteristics and device parameters are effective factors on the binder jetting process. In this 3D printing technique, there are possible defects that are divided to two groups of before and after sintering defects that should be controlled to achieve a printed part with minimum deviation from the designed model.