Fabrication and characterization of 316L stainless steel components printed with material extrusion additive manufacturing

Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing (MEAM) is an innovative technique recently used to produce metal and ceramic components. The fabrication process involves three main phases: shaping, debinding, and sintering. The shaping phase is obtained using a simple FDM printer with a filament composed of metal powder dispersed in a polymeric matrix. In this work, several specimens were fabricated using the commercial filament BASF Ultrafuse 316L which contains the 88wt% of 316L powder. The fabrication quality was assessed by density measurement and surface analysis of the printed parts. Tensile specimens were also printed, debonded, and sintered to perform tensile tests and evaluate the tensile properties of the material. The present work illustrates the main issues and the key parameters used in the shaping phase to achieve high-quality components before and after the debinding and sintering phases. A comparison between the tensile properties of specimens obtained in similar works and with other fabrication processes is also offered.