Issue 40, 2017

Solvent-cast based metal 3D printing and secondary metallic infiltration

Abstract

Affordable 3D printing methods are needed for the development of high performance metallic structures and devices. We develop a method to fabricate dense metallic structures by combining a room temperature 3D printing and subsequent heat-treatments: sintering and secondary metallic infiltration. The high flexibility of this method enables the fabrication of customized 3D structures, such as fully-filled, porous, interlocked and overhung structures. These geometries are printed using a highly concentrated metallic ink (metallic load up to 98 wt%) consisting of highly alloyed steel (HAS) microparticles, polylactic acid (PLA) and dichloromethane (DCM). In order to improve the mechanical properties and the electrical conductivity, the as-printed structures are sintered and infiltrated by copper in a furnace protected by a mixture of H2 and Ar. The filament porosity of the copper infiltrated samples is as low as 0.2%. Mechanical testing and electrical conductivity measurement on the copper infiltrated structures reveal that the Young's modulus reaches up to ∼195 GPa and the electrical conductivity is as high as 1.42 × 106 S m−1. Our method enables the simple fabrication of high performance metallic structures which could open up new technological applications where cost is an important factor.

Graphical abstract: Solvent-cast based metal 3D printing and secondary metallic infiltration

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
27 Jūn. 2017
Accepted
23 Aug. 2017
First published
23 Aug. 2017

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2017,5, 10448-10455

Solvent-cast based metal 3D printing and secondary metallic infiltration

C. Xu, A. Bouchemit, G. L’Espérance, L. Laberge Lebel and D. Therriault, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2017, 5, 10448 DOI: 10.1039/C7TC02884A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements