3D printing conditions determination for feedstock used in fused filament fabrication (FFF) of 17-4PH stainless steel parts

Fused filament fabrication combined with debinding and sintering could be an economical process for 3D printing of metal parts. In this study, compounding, filament making and FFF processing of a feedstock material containing 55 vol. % of 17-4PH stainless steel powder and a multicomponent binder system are presented. For the FFF process, processing windows of the most significant parameters, such as range of extrusion temperatures (210 to 260 °C), flow rate multipliers (150 to 200 %), and 3D printing speed multipliers (60 to 100 %) were determined for a constant printing bed temperature of 60 °C