Sintering of Additively Manufactured Zirconium by MoldJet Technology

Zirconium, as fuel rod cladding material for nuclear reactors, exhibited interest in the 1950s in the nuclear industry. Since those days, interest in Zr metal sintering studies has largely decreased until recently, when additive manufacturing technologies started to rise. A study of Zr sintering has been conducted to revive the previous knowledge by using a binder for cold-pressed powder samples continuing with the as-printed samples. Samples were additively manufactured by novel MoldJet (c) sinter-based technology from zirconium powder (< 44 mu m) with average relative green densities of approximately 46.3 +/- 0.8% TMD. Relative density of 94.5% was achieved after sintering at 1300 C-degrees for 2 h. Mechanical properties were tested by three-point bending and presented reliable results. Although, the additively manufactured samples had lower density after sintering compared to the cold-pressed ones, the ability for printing of Zr parts with high density by using this technique has been manifested.