Reduction of Sintering Distortion in Metal Binder Jetting: Measuring Friction under Sintering Conditions

As one of the additive manufacturing processes, metal binder jetting enables the resource-efficient production of highly complex metal components and is more cost-effective for small batch sizes compared to metal injection molding. At the end of the metal binder jetting process chain, the components are sintered as well, whereby they are subject to a shrinkage of up to 20 %. To effectively address this issue, a precise understanding of the friction between the component and the setter plate is indispensable. This knowledge is important for gaining insights into the phenomenon and, notably, for refining the simulation of the sintering process. Therefore, this paper aims to contribute by introducing a custom-made setup for high-temperature tribometry of metal binder jetting components and presenting measurements of the coefficients of friction at room temperature as well as 1100 °C between samples printed in 17-4 PH and aluminum oxide plates of different porosity, roughness and states of use.