Metal Binder Jetting 3D Printers
Binder Jetting is an additive manufacturing process in which a binding agent is deposited to join powder particles. Layers of material are then bonded to form the object. In Metal Binder Jetting (MBJ) the metal powder is bound using a polymer binding agent. The production of metal objects using MBJ allows for the creation and the production of complex geometries that cannot be accomplished using the conventional manufacturing techniques.
Technology Overview
Binder Jetting
“The binder jetting process uses two materials; a powder based material and a binder. The binder acts as an adhesive between powder layers. The binder is usually in liquid form and the build material in powder form. A print head moves horizontally along the x and y axes of the machine and deposits alternating layers of the build material and the binding material. After each layer, the object being printed is lowered on its build platform.
Due to the method of binding, the material characteristics are not always suitable for structural parts and despite the relative speed of printing, additional post processing (see below) can add significant time to the overall process.
As with other powder based manufacturing methods, the object being printed is self-supported within the powder bed and is removed from the unbound powder once completed. The technology is often referred to as 3DP technology and is copyrighted under this name.”