60% Stainless Steel / 40% Bronze Matrix Material
Steel- 3D Printing Material – 3D Printing Material
Binder Jetting
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60% Stainless Steel / 40% Bronze Matrix Material
Steel- 3D Printing Material – 3D Printing Material
Binder Jetting
Material info
About Steel- 3D Printing Material – 3D Printing Material
Steel is an affordable and strong metal that is well-suited for consumer products both small and large with an industrial look and feel. It’s printed using a binder jetting process and is later infused with bronze, creating a material that is 60% steel and 40% bronze and can range in color from a silver gray to reddish bronze. It is strong enough for metal parts like bottle openers and dice, but is not recommended for industrial load bearing applications.
Color & Finishes
Bronze
This finish gives the material a brown antique bronze look
Gold
A thin layer of 24K gold plating that will wear with handling
Nickel
A thin layer of nickel plating providing a shiny silver gray color that will wear with handling
Bronzed-Silver
A metallic silvery color with a bronze tint
Black
The black finish gives the material a dark gray to black look
Matte
Unpolished for a rough surface and matte finish.
Unpolished for a rough surface and matte finish.
Polished
Parts are polished until shiny and smooth. Note: Internal detail can not be polished, well-reachable surfaces will be polished therefore tight internal spaces may remain unpolished. Products larger than 150 x 150 x 150 mm and products with particularly thin features or details will undergo bead blasting instead of the regular polishing process in order to avoid breakage. This may lead to a rougher and less consistent finish than usual.
Parts are polished until shiny and smooth. Note: Internal detail can not be polished, well-reachable surfaces will be polished therefore tight internal spaces may remain unpolished. Products larger than 150 x 150 x 150 mm and products with particularly thin features or details will undergo bead blasting instead of the regular polishing process in order to avoid breakage. This may lead to a rougher and less consistent finish than usual.
Technology
- Binder Jetting
Technical Documents
Material Properties
Ultimate Strength (ASTM E8)
496 MPa
Elongation (ASTM E8)
7.0 %
Hardness (ASTM E18)
93 HRb
Description
Material Highlights
good strength, many available colors, supports larger parts
Handling and Care
not food safe, heatproof to 831°C/1521°F
Design Guidelines
Bounding Box
Bounding Box Max
762 × 393 × 393 mm (Bronzed-Silver, Bronze, Black)
178 × 178 × 178 mm (Gold, Nickel)
152 × 152 × 76 (Polished models)
178 × 178 × 178 (Plated models)
Bounding Box Min
6 × 6 × 3 mm
The bounding box is a 3D imaginary outline of a box that encloses the smallest area occupied by your model. Your model must be within the minimum and maximum bounding box sizes. If the size of the model is close to the maximum bounding box, then the printing orientation will be restricted.
Walls
Supported Wall Thickness Min
Model’s Longest Dimension: 3 to 75 mm = 1.0 mm
75 to 150 mm = 1.5 mm
150 to 200 mm = 2.0 mm
200 to 300 mm = 3.0 mm
Unsupported Wall Thickness Min
Model’s Longest Dimension: 3 to 75 mm = 1.0 mm
75 to 150 mm = 1.5 mm
150 to 200 mm = 2.0 mm
200 to 300 mm = 3.0 mm
Wires
Supported Wires Min
Model’s Longest Dimension: 3 to 75 mm = 1.0 mm
75 to 150 mm = 1.5 mm
150 to 200 mm = 2.0 mm
200 to 300 mm = 3.0 mm
Unsupported Wires Min
Model’s Longest Dimension: 3 to 75 mm = 1.0 mm
75 to 150 mm = 1.5 mm
150 to 200 mm = 2.0 mm
200 to 300 mm = 3.0 mm
Details
Details Min Embossed
1.0 mm high & wide
Details Min Engraved
1.0 mm high & wide
Escape Holes
Single Escape Hole Diameter (Min)
4.0 mm
Multiple Escape Hole Diameter (Min)
2.0 mm
A single escape hole at the end of a cavity will not allow material in the corners near the escape hole to fully escape. So we recommend multiple escape holes at both ends of the cavity.
Clearance
Min
3.0 mm
Sprues
We cannot print Steel parts with sprues. Any part with sprues will be rejected. Since sprues are inherently thin by design, Bronze will not be able to be infiltrated between parts that are sprued and the model will fail in production.
Sprues are wires that keep two or more parts together. Parts should be connected with a minimum of two sprues each. Please consider the size of your sprues and increase them as needed as minimum guidelines will not always be adequate for large models. If the sprues are within the guidelines and are broken, but there is no damage to your model, we will still ship them as is.
Interlocking & Enclosed Parts
Interlocking
No
Enclosed
No
Parts in File
Max
up to 250
Accuracy
Accuracy
±5% The bronze infiltration of each steel part makes this material less dimensionally accurate than other Shapeways materials. Shrinkage is more prevalent, especially on small holes and inner diameters. Accuracy and tolerance can vary greatly depending on the model, and are hard to predict because they are so geometry specific. A 5% deviation on a ring is around 1 US ring size. So if you order a size 6, the deviation could cause the actual print to be a size 5 or 7.
For example: a product with dimensions of 50 x 50 x 100 mm can be 0.05*100 mm = 5 mm bigger or smaller in any direction.
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