In recent years, 3D printing of thermoplastics based on fuse manufacturing technology has gradually developed into a fairly mature manufacturing method. In contrast, 3D printing of metallic materials still faces many limitations and challenges.
In terms of processability, the disparity between metal and plastic is mainly due to the lack of good thermoplasticity of common metals. On the other hand, bulk amorphous materials, as a special metal alloy, have thermoplastic properties similar to plastics. After it is heated above the glass transition temperature, it can be gradually softened, so it can deform under lower pressure, thus bridging the gap between metal and plastic in terms of processability.
Nevertheless, the current bulk amorphous 3D printing is still mainly based on the traditional powder bed melting technology. Whether or not the 3D printing process based on the bulk amorphous thermoplastics can be used to simplify the 3D printing process has become an urgent issue.
Recently, Jan Schroers's group at Yale University has realized the use of fuse manufacturing technology widely used in 3D printing of thermoplastic materials to achieve 3D printing of Zr-based bulk amorphous. The structure of the amorphous part obtained by the 3D printing technology is compact, and still maintains an amorphous state, and no crystallization phenomenon is observed.
Compared with the common metal 3D printing technology, the 3D printed block amorphous using fuse manufacturing technology has significant advantages: no vacuum or protection of the atmospheric environment; no need for laser or electron beam energy consumption; no preparation required Amorphous powder or sintering simplifies the processing process; improves printing speed and reaches 10mm3 / s.
The key to the success of this technology is the thermoplastic properties of the bulk amorphous itself and the metallurgical bonding between layers. The tensile test results show that the strength of the bulk amorphous parts processed by this technology exceeds the previous record of 3D printed bulk amorphous, which is enough to rank among the highest strengths that metal 3D printing can achieve.
In addition, the fuse manufacturing technology does not require a vacuum or inert gas environment for processing, and the relatively low processing temperature also avoids recrystallization and thermal shrinkage that may be caused by amorphous remelting. The research shows that fuse manufacturing technology is an effective means to achieve bulk amorphous 3D printing, and it is expected to promote the rapid development of bulk amorphous 3D printing technology.