Susanne Christ, Martin Schnabel, Elke Vorndran, Jürgen Groll, Uwe Gbureck, 

Department for Functional Materials in Medicine and Dentistry, University Hospital Würzburg, Pleicherwall 2, 97070 Würzburg, Germany

 

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an attractive rapid prototyping technology for the fabrication of 3D structures by the localized deposition of a reactive binder liquid onto thin powder layers in predominantly technical applications. A practical limitation is often the low green strength of printed samples, which can lead to a collapse of large and fragile structures during removal from the powder bed and the following depowdering procedure. Fibre reinforcement may improve green mechanical properties of printed samples, which was investigated in this study using a range of different short fibres added to a matrix of cellulose-modified gypsum powder. Mechanical testing of printed samples revealed a bending strength increase of 180% and up to 10 times higher work of fracture values compared to non-reinforced printed samples.

 

Keywords

3D powder printing; Fibre reinforcement; Mechanical properties

 

Full text is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167577X14018539