Characterization of metal FDM process and final mechanical performances evaluation

Over the years, the Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies are gaining more and more interest in the industrial and research field. So far the SLM technology is a well-established technology and is the main choice adopted to manufacture metal components even if it results higly energy-consuming. An alternative technology could be the metal FDM, an AM technology that has recently been worthy of interest. In the current study, every stage of the metal FDM process is described in detail and an experimental part is developed to characterize. Differently to the almost the totality of papers who adopt tailored materials, the current work only employs available commercial materials processed by means of a EVO Lizer 11 printer (Medical University of Vienna, Center for Physics and Bio-medical enginnering). Knowledge of the double-extruder metal FDM process and chemical removal of support material was developed from scratch with a step-by-step approach. To get started, a brief prodromic practice period with the ASA and HIPS polymers is reported. Moreover, tensile strength properties of 316L are evaluated on different orientations (Polytechnical University of Turin, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering). Shrinkage evaluation of of Ti6Al4V-Grade 5 is performed. Both the activities are performed according to a trial and error approach, whose each trials are described in detail and whose most relevant parameter effectss like the overlapping, the flow rate, the dramatic impact of the bottom layer are discussed. The qualitative evaluation carried out about the conductivity and magnetic properties evaluation paves the way to alternative applications and studies. Some economical evaluations are conducted to get some quantitative consideration on the performed tests. The current study is part of a larger project whose long-term goal is the economical and mechanical comparison of SLM and metal FDM-made components so that it's possible to establish all application in which metal FDM can replace SLM.