MEASUREMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POROSITY IN STRUCTURAL AMORPHOUS METAL (SAM) ALLOY PARTS FROM BINDER JET PRINTING AND DIE COMPACTION USING X-RAY CT

The advent of Binder jet additive manufacturing continued to a revelation in the manufacture of intricate metal parts. This technology has been utilized in medical, aerospace and automotive industries, not much has been reported in the printing of parts from amorphous metal powders, which have found numerous applications in engineering because of their special properties. In this research, special emphasis was placed on two different manufacturing methods for structural amorphous metal alloy (SAM alloy); Die compaction and Binder jet printing. Samples of SAM alloy were created from these two-manufacturing methods and were subsequently, sintered, analyzed and compared. Previous studies show that as much as up to 50% porosity could be recorded in binder jet printing (Mostafaei, Stevens et al. 2016, ILogebe, Waters et al. 2019). In this regard, different techniques were used to determine the percentage porosity from both manufacturing methods. Archimedes method was used to determine the density and percentage porosity of the parts from the two methods. Similarly, percentage porosity was also determined using different tools in computed tomography (CT) analysis. The porosity results from both methods show good agreement. Finally, a range of applied pressure for the die compaction method was determined, at which the percentage porosity is the same as in the parts manufactured through binder jet printing.