Simulation and experimental study of binder droplet infiltration in 3DP technology

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to lessen the deviation of printing and to predict the nucleus size of binder droplet infiltration in three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology. The industrial CT is used to scan powders and the parameters of materials are calculated. A spherical model, which is based on the data from industrial CT scanning, predicts the nucleus size. The radius of the sphere is equal to the average radius of the sand particles. The spreading radius of binder droplet on the material is obtained by using the experimental method, and then the nucleus size is calculated by the equations. In order to do research on the process of droplet infiltration more intuitively, we analyze the effects of contact angle, porosity and drop height on the infiltration by using the software Comsol in the simulation. To verify the results of the simulation, the processes of infiltration are recorded by the high-speed digital video camera, and the nucleus size is observed by electron microscope. The study is important to conduct the infiltration experiments and provides a theoretical basis for optimization of process parameters in practical application.