AccScience Publishing / MSAM / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/MSAM026260060
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Consequences of entering wrong values for powder packing rate in binder jetting additive manufacturing

Md Shakil Arman1* ,  Zhijian Pei1 ,  Fahim Khan1 ,  Mostafa Meraj Pasha1 ,  Yi-Tang Kao2
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1 Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX , United States of America
2 Saint-Gobain Research North America, Northborough, MA , United States of America
MSAM, 026260060 https://doi.org/10.36922/MSAM026260060
Received: 24 June 2026 | Revised: 16 July 2026 | Accepted: 14 August 2026 | Published online: 9 September 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to highlight the consequences of entering inappropriate values for powder packing rate which is an input variable in binder jetting additive manufacturing. Most input variables (such as layer thickness, roller rotation speed, binder saturation, and drying time) in binder jetting directly affect the printing process, and their values are selected to achieve the desired print quality. However, powder packing rate is a very different input variable because its value should be determined based on the packing property of the powder used in binder jetting. Its value is used by binder jetting printers to calculate the binder volume required to achieve a selected binder saturation level. In most reported studies on binder jetting, powder packing rate was not mentioned. In some reported studies, the powder packing rate was mentioned but not explained. This paper fills the gap in the literature by presenting a study on how entered values of powder packing rate influence the quality of printed parts (specifically, the dimensional deviation and structural integrity of green parts). Silicon carbide powder and alumina powder were used to print parts on an ExOne Innovent+ printer under identical process conditions, but with three different powder packing rate values being entered to the printer. Powder packing rate values of 30%, 50%, and 70% were entered for the silicon carbide powder, while powder packing rate values of 15%, 35%, and 50% were entered for the alumina powder. The results show that the powder packing rate value that was entered into the printer significantly affected the quality of printed parts when powder material and other printing process variables were kept the same.

Keywords
Powder packing rate
Silicon carbide
Alumina
Dimensional deviation
Binder jetting additive manufacturing
Funding
This research was partially supported by the Mike and Sugar Barnes Professorship II.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known conflicts or competing interests with any institutes, organizations or agencies that might influence the integrity of results or objective interpretation of the submitted works.
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Materials Science in Additive Manufacturing, Electronic ISSN: 2810-9635 Published by AccScience Publishing
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