Stainless steel 3D printing
Stainless steel is one of the most used materials for 3D printing. Despite it is thought to be very uncomfortable in classical machining stainless steel is the best for 3D metal printing.
Stainless steel is corrosive resistant this means that it does not suffer from humidity. For metal 3D printing you will use really fine metal powders and that means that surface area compared to the volume is really high. And that returns a very high speed of the reaction between the powder and atmosphere.
If you think of other reactive materials like titanium or aluminium they in form of powders become flammable or even explosive. But stainless steel remains a relatively safe material for 3D printing.
Stainless steel usually gives better surface quality in 3D printing rather than other material
Powder selection for 3D metal printing
If you choose stainless steel powder for 3D metal printing, first of all, you should choose the alloy is needed for the particular task. The second step is to find the producer for that alloy. You can find a variety of alloys of stainless steel for 3D metal printing, but to get the best price and lead time it's better to choose one of the alloys that are commonly used for 3D printing.
Metal powder for 3D printing is not just metal dust. In order to get good results from 3D printing, your powder should have specified granular sizes and exact spherical particles.
Why the particle form is so important for metal 3D printing? With spherical stainless steel powders, you will get the best flowability which will cause the layer's flatness while the 3D printing process. Taking into account the layer typical height of 20-50um the flatness can be ruined by any non-round or oversized particle.
The second reason is that spherical powders have the best density. If you think of the density of the stainless steel powder for 3D metal printing compared to the solid part you will see the difference about 1.5 times (~4.5g/cm³ for the fine spherical powder and ~7.7g/cm³ for the solid steel). This means that the powder will contract to the 60% of its original volume while the 3D metal printing process. So if you want to have high density and porous-less part you should select only fine powders for 3D stainless-steel printing.
Stainless steel 3D printing samples
Here are some samples of stainless-steel 3D printed parts from our own additive manufacturing centre.
Usually, people think of 3D metal printing only for space and aviation. But stainless steel 3D printing can be met in different no so rich areas. Based on our own experience we can point out the following:
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Stainless-steel 3D printed watch case
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Stainless-steel 3D printed computer port shielded protective caps
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Automobile turbo-charge plug 3D printed in stainless steel
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Custom 3D printed stainless steel bushings
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3D printed stainless steel stamp for leather punch
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Stainless-steel 3D printed electronic cases
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Even our printers have at least 10 3D printed parts if stainless steel each.
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A lot of different decorative parts was 3D printed from Stainless steel in our additive centre.
Order stainless steel 3D print
You can order stainless steel 3D printed parts at our Additive manufacturing centre.