Influence of the Orientation of Parts Produced by Additive Manufacturing on Mechanical Properties

Binder Jetting technology works on the principle of line injection moulding, using metal powder and liquid binder as input material, which is uniformly applied by print heads to the previous layer using a nozzle. By successively applying each layer, the desired shape of the designed component is obtained. The technology offers a large number of advantages which include the possibility of using any printing powder that may contain functional graded materials. Furthermore, it is a green manufacturing technology where we can reuse unused metal powder in the next printing cycle after following the prescribed process. As a result, we characterize this technology as a near-waste-free production of metal parts. The research aims to analyse the impact of different orientations of printed parts within the workspace on the mechanical properties of the resultant components. Additionally, the study aims to compare these mechanical properties with the specifications recommended by the metal powder manufacturer and findings from previous research studies. Based on the experimental measurements carried out, we can conclude that the influence of the orientation of the parts in the workspace has only a minimal effect on the mechanical properties of the manufactured parts.