Additive Manufacturing of Alloys: In-depth Review of Selective Laser Melting and Binder Jetting
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2026.v11.n01.013Keywords:
Additive Manufacturing, Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Binder Jetting (BJ), Powder Bed Fusion, Metal Alloys, Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, Post-Processing, Industrial ApplicationsAbstract
Additive Manufacturing (AM), often referred to as 3D printing, is recognized as a ground breaking innovation within contemporary industry. It allows for the creation of intricate components directly from computer-aided design models, significantly reducing material waste and production time. Among the different metal based AM techniques, Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and Binder Jetting (BJ) have gained widespread recognition for their unique capabilities in fabricating high-performance alloys. This paper presents a comprehensive review of these two techniques, covering their working principles, equipment, material considerations, microstructural development, mechanical properties, applications, post-processing methods, advantages, limitations, and future research directions. A comparative analysis between SLM and BJ is provided to guide engineers in selecting the appropriate method for specific industrial applications.
References
[1] Gibson, I., Rosen, D., Stucker, B., Khorasani, M., Rosen, D., Stucker, B., & Khorasani, M. (2021). Additive manufacturing technologies (Vol. 17, pp. 160-186). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56127-7
[2] Wohlers, Wohlers Report: Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing – State of the Industry, Wohlers Associates, 2022. (https://wohlersassociates.com/product/wohlers-report-2022/)
[3] Mukherjee, T., Zuback, J. S., De, A., & DebRoy, T. (2016). Printability of alloys for additive manufacturing. Scientific reports, 6(1), 19717. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep19717
[4] Gu, D. (2015). Laser additive manufacturing of high-performance materials. Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46089-4
[5] Kruth, J. P., Levy, G., Klocke, F., & Childs, T. H. (2007). Consolidation phenomena in laser and powder-bed based layered manufacturing. CIRP annals, 56(2), 730-759. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2007.10.004
[6] Kruth, J. P., Leu, M. C., & Nakagawa, T. (1998). Progress in additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping. Cirp Annals, 47(2), 525-540. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0007-8506(07)63240-5
[7] Kalpakjian, Serope & Schmid, Steven & Sekar, Vijay. (2013). Manufacturing Engineering and Technology.
[8] Kou, S. (2003). Welding Metallurgy Wiley Interscience. Hoboken NJ.
[9] DebRoy, T., Wei, H. L., Zuback, J. S., Mukherjee, T., Elmer, J. W., Milewski, J. O., ...& Zhang, W. (2018). Additive manufacturing of metallic components–process, structure and properties. Progress in materials science, 92, 112-224. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2017.10.001
[10] Thijs, L., Verhaeghe, F., Craeghs, T., Van Humbeeck, J., &Kruth, J. P. (2010). A study of the microstructural evolution during selective laser melting of Ti–6Al–4V. Actamaterialia, 58(9), 3303-3312. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2010.02.004
[11] Brandl, E., Heckenberger, U., Holzinger, V., & Buchbinder, D. (2012). Additive manufactured AlSi10Mg samples using Selective Laser Melting (SLM): Microstructure, high cycle fatigue, and fracture behavior. Materials & Design, 34, 159-169. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2011.07.067
[12] Hilpert, E., Hartung, J., Risse, S., Eberhardt, R., & Tünnermann, A. (2018). Precision manufacturing of a lightweight mirror body made by selective laser melting. Precision Engineering, 53, 310-317. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precisioneng.2018.04.013
[13] Gong, H., Rafi, K., Gu, H., Starr, T., & Stucker, B. (2014). Analysis of defect generation in Ti–6Al–4V parts made using powder bed fusion additive manufacturing processes. Additive Manufacturing, 1, 87-98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2014.08.002
[14] Qiu, C., Adkins, N. J., & Attallah, M. M. (2013). Microstructure and tensile properties of selectively laser-melted and of HIPed laser-melted Ti–6Al–4V. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 578, 230-239. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2013.04.099
[15] Kempen, K., Thijs, L., Van Humbeeck, J., & Kruth, J. P. (2012). Mechanical properties of AlSi10Mg produced by selective laser melting. Physics Procedia, 39, 439-446. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phpro.2012.10.059
[16] Leitz, K. H., Grohs, C., Singer, P., Tabernig, B., Plankensteiner, A., Kestler, H., & Sigl, L. S. (2018). Fundamental analysis of the influence of powder characteristics in Selective Laser Melting of molybdenum based on a multi-physical simulation model. International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials, 72, 1-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2017.11.034
[17] Slotwinski, J. A., Garboczi, E. J., &Hebenstreit, K. M. (2014). Porosity measurements and analysis for metal additive manufacturing process control. Journal of research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 119, 494. DOI: https://doi.org/10.6028/jres.119.019
[18] Quintana, O. A., Alvarez, J., Mcmillan, R., Tong, W., & Tomonto, C. (2018). Effects of reusing Ti-6Al-4V powder in a selective laser melting additive system operated in an industrial setting. Jom, 70(9), 1863-1869. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-018-3011-0
[19] Dai, S., Zhu, K., Wang, S., & Deng, Z. (2025). Additively manufactured materials: A critical review on their anisotropic mechanical properties and modeling methods. Journal of Manufacturing Processes, 141, 789-814. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2025.02.038
[20] Vogt, J., Friedrich, H., Stepanyan, M., Eckardt, C., Lam, M., Lau, D., ...& Chan, J. (2022). Improved green and sintered density of alumina parts fabricated by binder jetting and subsequent slurry infiltration. Progress in Additive Manufacturing, 7(2), 161-171. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40964-021-00222-1
[21] Doyle, M., Agarwal, K., Sealy, W., &Schull, K. (2015). Effect of layer thickness and orientation on mechanical behavior of binder jet stainless steel 420+ bronze parts. Procedia Manufacturing, 1, 251-262. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2015.09.016
[22] Ziaee, M., & Crane, N. B. (2019). Binder jetting: A review of process, materials, and methods. Additive Manufacturing, 28, 781-801.
[23] Lecis, N., Mariani, M., Beltrami, R., Emanuelli, L., Casati, R., Vedani, M., & Molinari, A. (2021). Effects of process parameters, debinding and sintering on the microstructure of 316L stainless steel produced by binder jetting. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 828, 142108.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2021.142108
[24] Mirzababaei, S., &Pasebani, S. (2019). A review on binder jet additive manufacturing of 316L stainless steel. Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing, 3(3), 82. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jmmp3030082
[25] Fang, X., Zu, Y., Ma, Q., & Hu, J. (2023). State of the art of metal powder bonded binder jetting printing technology. Discover Materials, 3(1), 15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43939-023-00050-w
[26] Elliott, A. M., & Saito, T. (2023). Advances in binder jet additive manufacturing (No. ORNL/TM-2023/2829). Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
[27] Romero, I., Martín, J. M., Marzal, M., Gallego, J., Calero, M. A., & Martin, J. C. (2019, July). Additive Manufacturing (AM). Status in Airbus Defence and Space (Spain). In 8th European Conference for Aeronautics and Space Sciences (EUCASS) (Vol. 15).
[28] Niinomi, M. (2002). Recent metallic materials for biomedical applications. Metallurgical and materials transactions A, 33(3), 477-486. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-002-0109-2
[29] ExOne Company, Binder Jetting Technology Overview, Technical Documentation, 2020. (https://www.exone.com/Admin/getmedia/f02b9004-99ae-49d8-b56a-6d2670f5e3d3/2020_X1_Company-Presentation_EN_Sand-Only.pdf)
[30] Standard, A. S. T. M. (2012). Standard terminology for additive manufacturing technologies. ASTM International F2792-12a, 46, 10918-10928.
[31] Stavropoulos, P., Bikas, H., Souflas, T., Tzimanis, K., Papaioannou, C., & Porevopoulos, N. (2023). Additive manufacturing in the automotive industry. In 3D Printing (pp. 453-470). CRC Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003296676-29
[32] Beaman, J. J., Barlow, J. W., Bourell, D. L., Crawford, R. H., Marcus, H. L., & McAlea, K. P. (1997). Solid freeform fabrication: a new direction in manufacturing (Vol. 2061, pp. 25-49). Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6327-3
[33] Tian, Z., Zhang, C., Wang, D., Liu, W., Fang, X., Wellmann, D., ...& Tian, Y. (2019). A review on laser powder bed fusion of inconel 625 nickel-based alloy. Applied Sciences, 10(1), 81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/app10010081
[34] Ziaee, M., & Crane, N. B. (2019). Binder jetting: A review of process, materials, and methods. Additive Manufacturing, 28, 781-801. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2019.05.031
[35] Mostafaei, A., Elliott, A. M., Barnes, J. E., Li, F., Tan, W., Cramer, C. L., ... & Chmielus, M. (2021). Binder jet 3D printing—Process parameters, materials, properties, modeling, and challenges. Progress in Materials Science, 119, 100707. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2020.100707
[36] Mao, Y., Cai, C., Zhang, J., Heng, Y., Feng, K., Cai, D., & Wei, Q. (2023). Effect of sintering temperature on binder jetting additively manufactured stainless steel 316L: densification, microstructure evolution and mechanical properties. Journal of Materials Research and Technology, 22, 2720-2735. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2022.12.096
[37] Del Giudice, L., & Vassiliou, M. F. (2020). Mechanical properties of 3D printed material with binder jet technology and potential applications of additive manufacturing in seismic testing of structures. Additive Manufacturing, 36, 101714. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2020.101714
[38] Schröder, M., Falk, B., & Schmitt, R. (2015). Evaluation of cost structures of additive manufacturing processes using a new business model. Procedia Cirp, 30, 311-316. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2015.02.144
[39] Pu, W., Fu, D., Xia, H., & Wang, Z. (2017). Preparation of hollow polyurethane microspheres with tunable surface structures via electrospraying technology. RSC Advances, 7(79), 49828-49837. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA09831F
[40] Iatan, G. C., Cuculea, D. C., Ardelean, G., Stanciu, E. M., &Pascu, A. (2025). Optimization of Pulsed Laser Cladding for Reconditioning of Ni–Al–Bronze (NAB) Marine Propeller. Materials, 18(18), 4301. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18184301
[41] Mansoura, A., Omidi, N., Barka, N., Karganroudi, S. S., & Dehghan, S. (2024). Selective laser melting of stainless steels: a review of process, microstructure and properties. Metals and Materials International, 30(9), 2343-2371. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12540-024-01650-8
[42] Zhu, B., Li, R., Yuan, T., Li, W., Cai, D., & Kang, N. (2025). Metal binder jetting additive manufacturing: An overview of the process, materials and reinforcement methods. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 182196. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2025.182196
[43] Equbal, A., Equbal, A., Khan, Z. A., & Badruddin, I. A. (2025). Machine learning in additive manufacturing: A comprehensive insight. International Journal of Lightweight Materials & Manufacture, 8(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlmm.2024.10.002
