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The article investigates the development of a manufacturing route for highly porous titanium foams suitable for craniofacial surgery applications, particularly in cranioplasties. The study focuses on the polyurethane replication method for foam production and emphasizes reducing residual gas content, as it significantly affects the mechanical properties and suitability for approval of the foams. Various factors such as starting materials, solvent debinding, heating schedules, and hydrogen atmosphere are analyzed for their impact on residual gas content. It is shown that significant reductions in residual gas content can only be achieved by reworking each step of the process. A combination of initial solvent debinding of the PU template with dimethyl sulphoxide, reduction of suspension additives, use of coarser Gd. 1 powders, and an integrated debinding and sintering process under partial hydrogen atmosphere achieves a significant reduction in residual gas content. This way, the potential for producing titanium foams that comply with relevant standards for craniofacial implants is demonstrated.
Gas Analysis and Optimization of Debinding and Sintering Processes for Metallic Binder-Based AM*
(2022)
Binder-based additive manufacturing processes for metallic
AM components in a wide range of applications usually use
organic binders and process-related additives that must be
thermally removed before sintering. Debinding processes are
typically parameterized empirically and thus far from the optimum.
Since debinding based on thermal decomposition processes
of organic components and the subsequent thermochemical
reactions between process atmosphere and metal
powder materials make uncomplicated parameterization difficult,
in-situ instrumentation was introduced at Fraunhofer
IFAM. This measurement method relies on infrared spectroscopy
and mass spectrometry in various furnace concepts to
understand the gas processes of decomposition of organic
components and the subsequent thermochemical reactions
between the carrier gas atmosphere and the metal part, as well
as their kinetics. This method enables an efficient optimization
of the temperature-time profiles and the required atmosphere
composition to realize dense AM components with low contamination.
In the paper, the optimization strategy is presented,
and the achievable properties are illustrated using a fused
filament fabrication (FFF) component example made of 316L
stainless steel.