3D Printing Iron/Iron Oxide Composites by Metal Material Extrusion from an Industrial Waste

Abstract

The material extrusion 3d printing technique has proved to be reliable and low cost for obtaining metal parts. Therefore, in the present work, its suitability for obtaining pieces of a material composed of iron/iron oxide from an industrial waste was studied. Once the powder was obtained by chemical partial reduction, filaments were manufactured with a polymer matrix of TPE/PP/SA in a polymer–powder proportion of 13–87 wt.%. The influence of temperature and printing speed on the geometry of the printed and sintered parts, as well as on their mechanical and microstructural properties, was evaluated. The results showed that the printing speed had a significant impact on the print geometry of the parts, while the printing temperature had no effect. During thermal debinding and sintering, an additional chemical reduction due to the production of reducing agents during the decomposition of the polymer matrix was observed. This shows that the selection of the polymer matrix affects the microstructure of the sintered parts.