This research was conducted to reduce the defect rate caused by nozzle clogging of printing heads used in binder jet 3D printers. The binder jet 3D printing technology may adhere to the printing head nozzle by dispersing powder due to mechanical operation such as transferring the printing head and supplying powder, and may cause nozzle clogging by natural curing at the nozzle end depending on the type of binder used. To solve this problem, this study created a cleaning module exclusively for printing heads to check whether the durability of printing heads is improved through analysis of printing results before and after using the cleaning module. To this end, this research used a thermal bubble jet printing head, and the used powder was studied using gypsum powder.

Among the Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies, the Binder-Jetting printing technology is a method of spraying an adhesive on the surface of powder and laminate layer by layer. Recently, this technique has become a major issue in the production of large casting products such as ship-building, custom vehicles and so on. In this study, we performed research to make actual mold castings and increase mechanical property by using special sand and water-based binders. For use as a mold, it has a strength of more than 3MPa and permeability. Various experiments were carried out to obtain suitable them. The major process parameters were binder jetting volume, binder types, layer thickness and heat treatment condition. As a result of this study, the binder drop quantity was measured to be about 60 pico-liter, layer thickness was 100μm and the heat treatment condition was measured about 1,000℃ and compressive strength were measured to be more than 5MPa. The optimum condition of this experiment was established through actual casting of aluminum. The equipment used in this study was a Freeforms T400 model (SFS Co., Ltd.), and the printing area of 420 * 300 * 250mm and resolution of 600dpi can be realized.