Steel 3D Printing Material Information - Shapeways
Steel – 3D Printing Material
60% Stainless Steel / 40% Bronze Matrix Material
Get a Quote Material Info About Color & Finishes Technical Documents Material Properties Description Design Guidelines Bounding Box Walls Wires Details Escape Holes Clearance Sprues Interlocking & Enclosed Parts Parts in File Accuracy
Material Info
About
Steel is an affordable and strong metal that is well-suited for consumer products both small and large with an industrial look and feel. It’s printed using a binder jetting process and is later infused with bronze, creating a material that is 60% steel and 40% bronze and can range in color from a silver gray to reddish bronze. It is strong enough for metal parts like bottle openers and dice, but is not recommended for industrial load bearing applications. More information about this material can be found in our Help Center.
Color & Finishes
Bronze
This finish gives the material a brown antique bronze look
Bronzed-Silver
A metallic silvery color with a bronze tint
Black
The black finish gives the material a dark gray to black look
Matte
Unpolished for a rough surface and matte finish.
Polished
Parts are polished until shiny and smooth. Note: Internal detail can not be polished, well-reachable surfaces will be polished, therefore, tight internal spaces may remain unpolished. Products larger than 150 x 150 x 150 mm and products with particularly thin features or details will undergo bead blasting instead of the regular polishing process in order to avoid breakage. This may lead to a rougher and less consistent finish than usual.
Technical Documents
Material Properties
- Ultimate Strength (ASTM E8): 496 MPa
- Elongation (ASTM E8): 7.0 %
- Hardness (ASTM E18): 93 HRb
Description
- Material Highlights: Good strength, many available colors, supports larger parts
- Handling and Care: Not food safe, heatproof to 831°C/1521°F
Design Guidelines
Bounding Box
- Maximum Bounding Box: 762 × 393 × 393 mm (Bronzed-Silver, Bronze, Black)
- 152 × 152 × 76 mm (Polished)
- 178 × 178 × 178 mm (Plated)
- Minimum Bounding Box: 6 × 6 × 3 mm
Walls
Supported Walls
Model’s Longest Dimension:- 3 to 75 mm = 1.0 mm
- 75 to 150 mm = 1.5 mm
- 150 to 200 mm = 2.0 mm
- 200 to 300 mm = 3.0 mm
Unsupported Walls
Model’s Longest Dimension:- 3 to 75 mm = 1.0 mm
- 75 to 150 mm = 1.5 mm
- 150 to 200 mm = 2.0 mm
- 200 to 300 mm = 3.0 mm
Wires
Supported Wires
Model’s Longest Dimension:- 3 to 75 mm = 1.0 mm
- 75 to 150 mm = 1.5 mm
- 150 to 200 mm = 2.0 mm
- 200 to 300 mm = 3.0 mm
Unsupported Wires
Model’s Longest Dimension:- 3 to 75 mm = 1.0 mm
- 75 to 150 mm = 1.5 mm
- 150 to 200 mm = 2.0 mm
- 200 to 300 mm = 3.0 mm
Details
- Embossed Details: 1.0 mm high & wide
- Engraved Details: 1.0 mm high & wide
For text, the ratio between width and depth should be 1:1 and sans-serif fonts are preferred for line weight consistency.
Escape Holes
- Single Escape Hole Diameter: 4.0 mm
- Multiple Escape Hole Diameter: 2.0 mm
Clearance
- Minimum: 3.0 mm
Sprues
We cannot print Steel parts with sprues. Any part with sprues will be rejected.
Interlocking & Enclosed Parts
- Interlocking: No
- Enclosed: No
Parts in File
Up to 250
Accuracy
±5%. The bronze infiltration of each steel part makes this material less dimensionally accurate than other Shapeways materials. Shrinkage is more prevalent, especially on small holes and inner diameters.