Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing of Stainless Steel-Hydroxyapatite Bio-composite

This study was conducted to create a bio-composite with a porous structure using the binder-jet printing additive manufacturing process. The samples were printed by changing the parameters such as layer thickness, roller speed, sintering time and sintering temperature of the X1-Lab binder jet additive manufacturing printer. The samples were printed 80% stainless steel 316 mixed with 20% Calcium Phosphate Tribasic by volume. Eight experiments were attempted to print according to the fractional factorial design of experiment. The effects of changing parameters on the mechanical properties of the new bio-composite was tested using ASTM E-09 compressive strength standards. The compression testing was conducted by using MTS 810 material testing system following a modified version of the ASTM E9 standards for testing metallic material in room temperature. The samples were scanned using an electron microscope to understand the porous structure of the bio-composite.