Influence of Micro-Structured Setter Plates on Friction During Sintering of Metal Binder Jetting Components

Metal binder jetting (MBJ), an additive manufacturing process, enables the resource-efficient production of highly complex metal components and offers a cost advantage over metal injection molding, particularly for small batch sizes. At the end of the MBJ process, the components undergo sintering, during which they experience shrinkage of up to 20%. The relative movement between the component and the setter plate during this process induces stresses and undesired distortions caused by frictional forces. Reducing the coefficient of friction is identified as a potential solution to this problem. In this paper, the effect of micro-structured setter plates on friction during sintering is investigated. Eight different surface structures are fabricated and tested at ambient temperatures of 20 °C and 1,100 °C. The results indicate that friction increases due to the surface topography of the additively manufactured components in combination with insufficiently small structural elements. However, post-processing the surfaces led to a friction reduction of up to 34%.