Direct ink writing of TiC–316L metal matrix composites with an epoxy resin–absolute ethanol system

Abstract

TiC–316L metal matrix composites were successfully printed with an epoxy resin–absolute ethanol system by direct ink writing (DIW) process in this study. Microstructure and fracture morphology of the samples were observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Also, the relative density, hardness and transverse rupture strength (TRS) of the sintered samples were tested. The results show that the samples prepared with a new epoxy resin–absolute ethanol system by the DIW process have high solid content of printing slurry, good surface roughness, high relative density and high strength. The solid content of the slurry suitable for DIW was 60 vol%, and the internal diameter of the nozzle was set to 0.4 mm, the printing speed was set to 30 mm·s−1, and the layer height was set to 0.36 mm. For the sample with 35 wt% TiC–316L, the relative density, hardness and TRS of the sintered sample can reach 99.3%, HRA 79.5 and 1438 MPa, respectively.