In Binder Jetting (BJ) Additive Manufacturing (AM), green components are usually subjected to sintering process to reach required properties. Owing to the inherent low green density, binder jetted (BJ) parts undergo shrinkages up to 20%. In addition, anisotropic dimensional evolution during sintering is characteristic for BJ, generally caused by the specifics of the arrangement of particles during the printing process. In this study, the multi-axial dimensional evolution of 316L stainless steel cubic samples (10 × 10 × 10 mm 3 ), manufactured using BJ, was characterised by dilatometry experiments. Dilatometry tests were conducted up to sintering temperatures of 1300°C and 1370°C, with a heating rate of 10°C/min and 5°C/min, respectively. Dilatometry results and final dimension measurements showed anisotropic shrinkage behaviour during sintering with about 15% larger shrinkage along the building direction. Shrinkages along the other two orthogonal directions were relatively similar, but a slightly larger final shrinkage along the printhead movement direction was observed. Relative density of 85.0% and 96.4% was obtained after sintering tests at 1300°C and 1370°C, respectively.

Green density of binder jetted parts are typically equal or lower than the powder tap density. Also, anisotropic green porosity distribution is expected because of the characteristics of the binder jetting (BJ) printing process. In this study, the microstructure evolution in terms of phases and porosity characteristics was studied. A transition from irregular-shape interconnected porosity in pre-sintered samples to closed quasi-spherical porosity for samples sintered at 1370°C was observed. EBSD phase map showed ∼2.73% of δ-ferrite in sample sintered at 1370°C. The anisotropic porosity distribution was revealed by a higher area fraction of aligned large pores (>35 µm), within the cross-section perpendicular to the building direction. Chemical analysis showed an increase of C, O and N on the green sample, while a strong decrease was found after sintering when compared with the powder chemistry. δ-ferrite onset, from phase equilibrium calculations, varies from ∼1250°C (sintered sample chemistry) to ∼1350°C (powder chemistry).

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