Production and use of porous bead polymers in 3D printing using the binder jetting method

摘要

The present invention relates to the technical field of 3D printing, especially in the form of the binder jetting method, in which particulate material in a powder bed is bonded by means of a printed adhesive to form a three-dimensional object. The particulate materials may be inorganic materials, for example sand or a metal powder, or particulate polymeric materials, for example polymethacrylates or polyamides. For this purpose, polymethacrylates may take the form, for example, of suspension polymers, called bead polymers.;The present invention relates to the use of porous particles in the binder jetting process, in particular of porous suspension polymers. These powders for 3-D printing differ from the prior art in that the porosity results in a faster and better absorption of the printed binder by the powder particles. A great advantage of this procedure is additionally that a product with less warpage is formed and that the end product has a better surface appearance.