Influence of Build Orientation, Chamber Temperature and Infill Pattern on Mechanical Properties of 316L Parts Manufactured by Bound Metal Deposition

Bound Metal Deposition (BMD) is an alternative to the most common additive manufacturing (AM) technology for metal parts, Powder Bed Fusion (PBF), since the equipment used is more affordable and there are no risks due to exposure to loose powder and lasers or beams. However, the mechanical properties of parts manufactured by BMD are generally lower than those of PBF, making it necessary to study the process parameters to improve their performance. The aim of this work was to analyse the effect of different process parameters on the mechanical properties of 316L parts manufactured by BMD based on a set of specially designed experiments. The methodology followed in this research was thus based on the manufacturing of a series of samples with variations of the build orientation, infill pattern and chamber temperature followed by subsequent characterization and analysis. The microstructural analysis showed that voids were formed as a consequence of the air gaps generated between rasters during printing. It was observed that the characteristics of these macropores had a significant effect on the mechanical properties. The location, distribution and shape of these macropores depended on the alignment of rasters in each of the conditions, which varied with build orientation and infill pattern. Regarding the build orientation, horizontal parts exhibited lower porosity and considerably higher ultimate tensile strengths (UTS), approximately 160 MPa higher, than vertical samples. With respect to the infill pattern, horizontal parts with a concentric infill pattern showed triangular voids and a total porosity higher than 5%. However, samples with line infill patterns presented elongated macropores and a total porosity lower than 5%, properties that resulted in an improvement in UTS of 20 MPa, approximately. Overall, the results presented here offer a better comprehension of the effect of the BMD process parameters on mechanical properties and serve as a guideline for future work.