BASF Ultrafuse® 316L Stainless Steel

Affordable, reliable, and quality metal 3D printing parts with Ultrafuse® 316L Stainless Steel from BASF. Get all information and advice to help you print your 3D model with Ultrafuse 316L.

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Ultrafuse® 316L Material Guide

What is Ultrafuse 316L Stainless Steel?

Ultrafuse Stainless Steel 316L is a new industrial-grade metal filament for professional uses. Created by BASF, Ultrafuse 316L filament is composed of 90% stainless steel and 10% polymer binder which allows it to be used in any FDM/FFF printer.

The material is characterized by its impressive mechanical properties and low cost of production, making it one of the most affordable materials for metal 3D printing.

17-4 PH and 316L are among the most used stainless steel materials, however, these two materials present different properties regarding their tensile strength, yield strength, elongation at break, and hardness :

Ultrafuse® 316L (XY)Ultrafuse® 316L (ZX)Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH (XY)Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH (ZX)
Tensile strength561 MPa521 MPa760 MPa730 MPa
Yield strength251 MPa234 MPa680 MPa700 MPa
Elongation at break53%36%4%3%
Vickers Hardness128 HV10128 HV10257 HV10-

What can you do with Ultrafuse Stainless Steel 316L?

Stainless steel 316L parts are ideal for tooling, jigs and fixtures, molds, and other functional parts where durability and resistance are important. This metal is ideal for components in corrosive environments, requiring high mechanical strength and hardness.

Ultrafuse 316L is a great solution for medical, automotive, or aerospace industries to create functional prototypes and series production.

Infill

As opposed to most additive manufacturing techniques, filament printing allows you to apply different parameters to the exterior walls, and to the area in between them, that we will define as infill.

If you would like to get a non solid part, you can select the 50% infill in the printing configuration pannel, and if your part allows it, we will print your part with a 50% infill density, which will potentially result in a substantial weight reduction.

As default, the type of infill we will use is a triangular pattern, with 50% density. Should you require to have another pattern, or another density, you can submit your file already prepared for that, or you can also contact us.

Please keep in mind that all areas that have a wall thickness below 2.4 mm will be printed solid, and that solid part will have better mechanical properties than parts printed with 50% infill.

infill100

100% infill part (65g)

infill50

50% infill part (44g)

Dimensions:
X: 42 mm
Y: 42 mm
Z: 8 mm

Pricing and delivery

The printing price of your design is calculated automatically the moment it is uploaded. As you modify your object (changing material, finishing, size, using batch control or hollowing feature, etc.) you will note that the price changes automatically. The pricing is based on a series of factors, including total volume, object size, and bounding box – to name a few.

The estimated shipping time is also calculated automatically as the object is uploaded and each time you make a modification on it. Delivery time should be added to processing time.

For more information, check our pricing page

3D printing process of Stainless Steel 316

Ultrafuse 316L parts are printed with FDM/FFF technology from the specialized 90% metal/10% polymer filament created by BASF. The printed part is in a “green state” and must undergo a debinding process to remove the polymer binding agent. After debinding, the part is relatively porous and requires a sintering process to produce a solid, dense part. While the sintered part is ready for use, additional post-processing is possible to create the desired surface quality with polishing, milling, heat-treatment, or coating.

Maximum Size: 80x80x80mm or 115x115x40 mm (X – Y – Z)

 

Extensive testing and experience have shown that parts within a (X 60mm, Y 60mm, Z 60 mm) cube have the highest success rate and is suggested.

Typically, parts larger the suggested size benefit from the application of simulation and other development services. Please contact our Service Team.

 

Standard Layer thickness: 150µm

Standard nozzle size: 0,4 mm 

Accuracy: +/- 1% (min 0,5mm)

Depending on the selected nozzle diameter, sharp corners may not be printed. Please check Knife/Pointed Egdes section to overcome a potential problem.

Minimum wall thickness for object1 mm

Smooth transitions recommended to avoid cracks during debinding and sintering. Fillets and chamfers help to increase the probability of success. 

ultrafuse

Homogeneous wall thicknesses recommended to enable uniform shrinkage without major distortion.

ultrafuse

Wall height to wall thickness ratio: 6:1

Angles under 45° require support structures.

Please keep in mind that surfaces that have connection with support won´t be as smooth as the surfaces without support.

Support structures on edges, holes and corners are difficult to remove and sometimes not possible.

Knife edges/pointed edges will likely to fail during the print process. Round all knife edges with a 1.00 mm (0.03 in.) radius to avoid failing edges.

Minimum height and width details

Embossed: 0.60 mm – 1 mm wall thickness


Engraved: 0.40 mm – 1 mm wall thickness

embossed
Enclosed parts?Not recommended
Interlocking parts?Not recommended
Minimum clearance0.6 mm
Minimum hole diameter1.5 mm

 

Assembly?No

Files with Multiple Objects ?No


Icon to show that you can't print a 3D file containing several objects

It is not possible to 3D print a 3D file containing several objects.

It is not possible to print a 3D file containing several objects, that’s why we cannot accept files that contain clusters of multiple objects. Though, if you wish to purchase more than one identical parts, you can select the number of parts you want to order during the checkout. The more parts you order, the lower your price per part gets.

You can also use our online tools and see our tricks and tips on how to reduce your 3D printing price.

To get more information on your metal additive manufacturing service, you can contact our qualified sales team.

Grappe Material no.jpg

Mechanical PropertiesConditionsXY (flat)ZX (upright)
Tensile StrengthDIN EN ISO 6892-1
^1
561 MPa521 MPa
Yield Strength, Rp 0.2DIN EN ISO 6892-1
^1
251 MPa234 MPa
Elongation at BreakDIN EN ISO 6892-1
^1
53 %36 %
Impact Strength Charpy (notched)DIN EN ISO 148:2017- 052 (2mm V-notch)111 J/cm2– 
Vickers HardnessDIN EN ISO 6507-1128 HV10128 HV10

Ready to 3D print with Ultrafuse 316L?

With Sculpteo’s online 3D printing service you’re just a few clicks away from professional Ultrafuse 316L 3D printing. Your 3D model is printed with the highest quality and delivered straight to your door. 

Get started now!

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