Effect of Particle Size Distribution on Powder Packing and Sintering in Binder Jetting Additive Manufacturing of Metals

Abstract

The binder jetting additive manufacturing (AM) process provides an economical and scalable means of fabricating complex parts from a wide variety of materials. While it is often used to fabricate metal parts, it is typically challenging to fabricate full density parts without large degree of sintering shrinkage. This can be attributed to the inherently low green density and the constraint on powder particle size imposed by challenges in recoating fine powders. To address this issue, the authors explored the use of bimodal powder mixtures in the context of binder jetting of copper. A variety of bimodal powder mixtures of various particle diameters and mixing ratios were printed and sintered to study the impact of bimodal mixtures on the parts' density and shrinkage. It was discovered that, compared to parts printed with monosized fine powders, the use of bimodal powder mixtures improves the powder's packing density (8.2%) and flowability (10.5%), and increases the sintered density (4.0%) while also reducing the sintering shrinkage (6.4%).