Obtainable Densities and Contours Depending on Layer Thickness during Electric Contact Sintering of Iron Powder

摘要

During the consolidation cycle in the Metal Printing Process thin layers of loose powder are converted into useful engineering components by means of simultaneous pressing and electric contact sintering. The amount of energy developed during the sintering cycle is primarily dependent on the initial electrical resistance in the powder layer. Holding the powder type and the consolidation parameters (amperage, processing time, and external pressure) constant, the total resistance in the powder is given by the layer thickness. The influence of the layer thickness on microstructure and contours in samples made from two different iron powders are investigated in the present paper.