Impact of Printing Parameters on Green Density Homogeneity in Lithography-based Metal Manufacturing

Lithography-based metal manufacturing (LMM) is an emerging technology for the 3D production of metal parts with high dimensional accuracy and outstanding surface quality. To reliably reproduce these properties, a better understanding of parameter characteristics correlation is necessary. One of the most important characteristics of the printed part is the green density and its distribution within the building volume. This study investigates the printing parameters degree of powder filling of the feedstock, layer thickness, coating speed, coating mode and size of the material roll, with the help of a Design of Experiment (DoE). The green parts are getting characterised by dimensions, weight and density, the latter one determined by using the principle of Archimedes. Also, the strength of the green part is investigated. As the densification during sintering works as a magnifying glass for imperfections and differences in green density of the green parts, all samples get sintered and analysed on their density and shrinkage afterwards.