Low Melting Point Metal or Its Nanocomponents as Functional3DPrinting Inks

This chapter summarizes the typical properties of liquid metal and several theoretical models for characterizing nanometal fluids. To exhibit latest research progress made in 3D metal printing, a liquid-phase printing method as initiated in current laboratory was particularly discussed with a kind of low melting point metal, Bi35In48.6Sn16Zn0.4, as the functional ink. There are few attempts in preparing low melting point metal-based nanocomposites, which may be due to the fusible properties of the low melting point alloys. In this respect, fabrication methods of high-temperature metal-based nanocomposites such as severe plastic deformation, stir casting, ball milling and microwave sintering powder metallurgy can be referred to make low melting point metal-based nanocomposites. To significantly improve the cooling efficiency of the printed metallic part and thus the fabrication speed, a liquid-phase 3D printing method for quickly fabricating metal objects was proposed by current lab at Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences.