I was in Barnes and Noble looking at the machining magazines and heard a lady looking at the art magazines telling her son about metal clay. Basically you make a part with the clay let it dry, and fire it in a kiln or with a torch, the binder melts away leaving the metal part.
I was wondering if it would work for iron, steel, or stainless. Possibly the clay could be extruded from a 3-D printer.
RogerN
Metal clay has enormous shrinkage. 10-30% depending on formula and its strength is not all that high. Closer to plastic than metal. It is pretty much a decorative material.
A similar process for 3d printing uses a bed of steel powder. It glues together the powder in layers. The model is then sintered, but the strength is very low and they use the sintered model as a matrix for a infusion of molten bronze.
Paul K. Dickman
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