Three-Dimensional Printing of Metallic Parts by Means of Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)
Source abstract
Abstract
Obtaining metallic parts via Additive Manufacturing can yield several advantages over using other traditional manufacturing methods such as machining. Material extrusion (MEX) can handle complex shapes with porous structures and, at the present time, much low-end and desktop equipment is available. In the present work, different industrial and medical applications of metallic Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) parts are presented. First, an overview of the process, equipment, and of the metal-filled filaments currently available is provided. Then, the properties of parts and different applications are shown. For example, metal-filled filaments with a low metal content that can be used to obtain plastic parts with metallic appearance (with either steel, copper, or bronze), and filaments with a high metallic content allow obtaining metallic parts with high mechanical strength after a sintering operation. The present contribution aims to be an up-to-date panorama for current industrial and medical results and lessons learnt from the application of FFF to obtain metallic parts.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies · Additive Manufacturing Materials and Processes · Manufacturing Process and Optimization
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Departament of Mechanical Engineering (DEM), Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Av. Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Fundació Privada Centre CIM, C/Llorens i Artigas, 12, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
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