TY - JOUR

T1 - Influence of Micro-Structured Setter Plates on Friction During Sintering of Metal Binder Jetting Components

AU - Blunk, Heiko

AU - Seibel, Arthur

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

PY - 2026

Y1 - 2026

N2 - Metal binder jetting (MBJ), an additive manufacturing process, enables the resource-efficient production of highly complex metal components and offers a cost advantage over metal injection molding, particularly for small batch sizes. At the end of the MBJ process, the components undergo sintering, during which they experience shrinkage of up to 20%. The relative movement between the component and the setter plate during this process induces stresses and undesired distortions caused by frictional forces. Reducing the coefficient of friction is identified as a potential solution to this problem. In this paper, the effect of micro-structured setter plates on friction during sintering is investigated. Eight different surface structures are fabricated and tested at ambient temperatures of 20 °C and 1,100 °C. The results indicate that friction increases due to the surface topography of the additively manufactured components in combination with insufficiently small structural elements. However, post-processing the surfaces led to a friction reduction of up to 34%.

AB - Metal binder jetting (MBJ), an additive manufacturing process, enables the resource-efficient production of highly complex metal components and offers a cost advantage over metal injection molding, particularly for small batch sizes. At the end of the MBJ process, the components undergo sintering, during which they experience shrinkage of up to 20%. The relative movement between the component and the setter plate during this process induces stresses and undesired distortions caused by frictional forces. Reducing the coefficient of friction is identified as a potential solution to this problem. In this paper, the effect of micro-structured setter plates on friction during sintering is investigated. Eight different surface structures are fabricated and tested at ambient temperatures of 20 °C and 1,100 °C. The results indicate that friction increases due to the surface topography of the additively manufactured components in combination with insufficiently small structural elements. However, post-processing the surfaces led to a friction reduction of up to 34%.

KW - surface modification

KW - surface roughness

KW - Unlubricated friction

KW - Engineering

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105027402347

U2 - 10.1080/10402004.2025.2595444

DO - 10.1080/10402004.2025.2595444

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:105027402347

JO - Tribology Transactions

JF - Tribology Transactions

SN - 1040-2004

ER -