Sintering of 3D printed metal, ceramic and glass multi-material parts

3D printing technologies are well suited to the production of multi-material parts with discrete or continuous material distributions. A range of 3D printing technologies are evaluated to determine promising strategies for the concurrent 3D printing of multiple material classes; specifically metals, ceramics and glasses in a single printed object. A low cost and versatile printing strategy, based on material extrusion and subsequent sintering is identified, and a range of design for manufacture strategies are synthesised. Preliminary examples of multi-material sintered parts including metal-metal, metal-glass and metal-ceramic parts are presented