Three-dimensional printing with gas-atomized stainless steel particles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12392018-B2
Application number	US-201917637651-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2019
Priority date	Oct 22, 2019
Publication date	Aug 19, 2025
Grant date	Aug 19, 2025

Abstract

A three-dimensional printing kit can include a binding agent and a particulate build material. The binding agent can include a binder in a liquid vehicle. The particulate build material can include from about 80 wt % to 100 wt % gas-atomized stainless steel particles. The gas-atomized stainless steel particles can include from about 3 wt % to about 15 wt % nickel and from about 10 wt % to about 20 wt % chromium and can have an average oxygen content of from about 1200 ppm to about 2200 ppm by weight.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A three-dimensional printing kit, comprising:
a binding agent including latex polymer particles dispersed in a liquid vehicle, wherein the latex polymer particles have an average particle size ranging from about 500 nm to about 1 μm and the liquid vehicle is present in an amount ranging from about 50 wt % to about 99 wt % based on a weight of the binding agent as a whole; and
a particulate build material including from about 80 wt % to 100 wt % gas-atomized stainless steel particles, wherein the gas-atomized stainless steel particles include from about 3 wt % to about 15 wt % of nickel and from about 10 wt % to about 20 wt % of chromium, and wherein an average oxygen content of the gas-atomized stainless steel particles ranges from about 1200 ppm to about 2200 ppm by weight.

2. The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the binding agent includes from about 2 wt % to about 30 wt % of the latex polymer particles.

3. The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the gas-atomized stainless steel particles have a D50 particle size ranging from about 5 μm to about 20 μm.

4. The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the gas-atomized stainless steel particles have a D90 particle size ranging from about 10 μm to about 30 μm.

5. The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the average oxygen content of the gas-atomized stainless steel particles ranges from about 1400 ppm to about 1800 ppm by weight.

6. The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the gas-atomized stainless steel particles include an average carbon content ranging from about 50 ppm to about 1200 ppm by weight.

7. The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the gas-atomized stainless steel particles include from about 10 wt % to about 15 wt % of nickel, from about 15 wt % to about 20 wt % of chromium, and from about 1.5 wt % to about 4 wt % of molybdenum.

8. The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the gas-atomized stainless steel particles include from about 3 wt % to about 5 wt % of nickel, from about 15 wt % to about 17 wt % of chromium, from about 3 wt % to about 5 wt % of copper, and from about 0.15 wt % to about 0.45 wt % of niobium, tantalum, or a combination of niobium and tantalum.

9. The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the gas-atomized stainless steel particles have an average aspect ratio from about 1.2:1 to about 1:1.

10. A method of three-dimensional printing, the method comprising:
iteratively applying individual build material layers of a particulate build material including from about 80 wt % to 100 wt % of gas-atomized stainless steel particles, wherein the gas-atomized stainless steel particles include from about 3 wt % to about 15 wt % of nickel and from about 10 wt % to about 20 wt % of chromium, and wherein an oxygen content of the gas-atomized stainless steel particles ranges from about 1200 ppm to about 2200 ppm by weight;
based on a three-dimensional object model, iteratively applying a binding agent to the individual build material layers to define individually patterned object layers that become adhered to one another to form a layered green body object, the binding agent including latex polymer particles dispersed in a liquid vehicle, wherein the latex polymer particles have an average particle size ranging from about 500 nm to about 1 μm and the liquid vehicle is present in an amount ranging from about 50 wt % to about 99 wt % based on a weight of the binding agent as a whole; and
sintering the layered green body object in a fusing oven to form a fused three-dimensional object.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the gas-atomized stainless steel particles have a D50 particle size ranging from about 5 μm to about 20 μm.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the sintering occurs in an atmosphere containing from about 2.4 vol % to 100 vol % of hydrogen.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the fused three-dimensional object has an average oxygen content per fused particle ranging from about 100 ppm to about 800 ppm by weight.

14. A three-dimensional printing system, comprising:
a supply containing a particulate build material including from about 80 wt % to 100 wt % of gas-atomized stainless steel particles having a D50 particle size ranging from about 5 μm to about 20 μm, wherein the gas-atomized stainless steel particles include from about 3 wt % to about 15 wt % of nickel and from about 10 wt % to about 20 wt % of chromium, and wherein an average oxygen content of the gas-atomized stainless steel particles ranges from about 1200 ppm to about 2200 ppm by weight; and
a fluid applicator fluidly coupled or coupleable to a binding agent to apply the binding agent to the particulate build material to form a layered green body object, wherein the binding agent includes latex polymer particles dispersed in a liquid vehicle, the latex polymer particles having an average particles size ranging from about 500 nm to about 1 μm, and wherein the liquid vehicle is present in an amount ranging from about 50 wt % to about 99 wt % based on a weight of the binding agent as a whole.

15. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a fusing oven to fuse the gas-atomized stainless steel particles to a temperature where inter-particle fusion occurs and fused gas-atomized stainless steel particles have an average oxygen content ranging from about 400 ppm to about 800 ppm by weight.

Assignees

• Peridot Print Llc

Inventors

• Suri Pavan
• Smith Mackensie C

Classifications

• B22F2304/10

  Micron size particles, i.e. above 1 micrometer up to 500 micrometer · CPC title

• B22F2301/35

  Iron · CPC title

• B22F2301/15

  Nickel or cobalt · CPC title

• B22F2201/013

  Hydrogen · CPC title

• B22F1/052

  characterised by a mixture of particles of different sizes or by the particle size distribution · CPC title