Binder jetting material guide
Every setting that lives on a Binder jetting material, and where each number comes from - usually a supplier's data sheet or an invoice.
A material is something you buy, so most of these numbers are on an invoice or a data sheet rather than in your head. Price and density are the two that matter most; get those right and everything else is a refinement.
Materials live in the Library too, so a price change is one edit even if five configurations use it.
Every setting on this page
These are in the same order as the editor, with the same help text. Each one has an anchor, and the ? beside a field in your console links straight to it - so if you are reading this because you clicked one, the setting you were looking at is highlighted.
Powder
Kindkindbasic
Metal, foundry sand or full-colour powder.
Price: Metal parts are sintered (furnace share, setter labour), colour parts infiltrated; sand is used as printed.
Typical: Metal.
Linear sinter shrinkshrink_pctbasic
How much a metal part shrinks along each axis in sintering. 0 for sand and colour.
Price: The green part is printed larger by 1 / (1 - shrink) per axis, so it takes more of the job box and more binder.
Typical: 17-21 % stainless steel.
Loose powder densitybulk_density_g_cm3
Density of the loose powder in the job box.
Price: Decides how much powder a build holds, and so how much the loss per build costs.
Typical: 4-5 g/cm³ steel, 1.4-1.6 g/cm³ sand, 1-1.3 g/cm³ gypsum.
Powder lost per buildpowder_loss_pct
Share of the loose powder in a box that cannot be reused after the build.
Price: Charged as waste by build share.
Typical: 2-5 % metal, 5-15 % sand.
Binder per cm³binder_ml_per_cm3calibratable
Binder jetted per cubic centimetre of green part.
Price: Reported as the binder consumable of this kind, priced per litre.
Typical: 0.2-0.35 metal, 0.02-0.05 sand, 0.1-0.2 colour.
This is one of the numbers the calibration tool can fit from jobs you have already run, so you do not have to guess it.
Cured in an ovenneeds_cure
Whether the job box goes through a curing oven before unpacking.
Price: Adds the consumable `binder_jetting.cure` (oven cycles) by build share.
Typical: On for metal, off for furan sand and colour.
De-powdering effortdepowder_factor_pct
How much harder this material is to clean than your baseline.
Price: Scales the de-powdering minutes of every part in it.
Typical: 100-150 % metal (fragile green parts).
Minimum wallmin_wall_mm
Thinnest wall that survives de-powdering and debinding in this material.
Price: No direct price effect: it is the threshold of the thin-wall warning.
Typical: 1-2 mm metal, 2-3 mm colour, 3-5 mm sand.
Smallest detailmin_feature_mm
Smallest curved detail that survives handling in the green state.
Price: No direct price effect: finer detail is flagged.
Typical: 0.5-1 mm metal and colour, 2 mm sand.
Smallest gapmin_gap_mm
Narrowest gap the loose powder can still be blown out of.
Price: No direct price effect: a narrower gap stays full of powder, and the check warns.
Typical: 0.5-1 mm metal, 1 mm colour, 3 mm sand.
Setter review above (0 = off)max_unsupported_span_mm
Metal: an open, concave part longer than this has spans that sag in the furnace unless it is set on shaped setters.
Price: No direct price effect: such a part goes to review so a person can plan its setters.
Typical: 30-60 mm metal, 0 for sand and colour.
Infiltration depth (0 = none)infiltration_depth_mm
How deep the infiltrant soaks in from the surface. 0 if the material is not infiltrated.
Price: Reported as the consumable `binder_jetting.infiltrant` (litres) by surface area, plus infiltration labour.
Typical: 1-3 mm colour.
Infiltrant uptakeinfiltrant_uptake_pct
Share of the infiltrated shell the infiltrant actually fills (the open porosity).
Price: Scales the infiltrant consumed.
Typical: 30-50 %.