A novel approach hybridizing lithography-pressureless sintering additive manufacturing to go beyond the critical casting size limit of Fe-based bulk metallic glass

A novel approach hybridizing lithography-pressureless sintering additive manufacturing to go beyond the critical casting size limit of Fe-based bulk metallic glass | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article A novel approach hybridizing lithography-pressureless sintering additive manufacturing to go beyond the critical casting size limit of Fe-based bulk metallic glass Mahmoud Zakaria Ibrahim, Christian GIERL-MAYER, Gyoergy HARAKALY, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8983428/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology → Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Fe-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) is an amorphous metallic alloy that of high potential to be applied in biomedical devices, automotive and aerospace, sports equipment, etc. due to its attractive mechanical, physical and chemical properties. However, Fe-based BMG has low glass forming ability (GFA) and high tendency to crack during solidification, restricting its critical casting size to few millimeters. Alternatively, different fabrication techniques were proposed to overcome the size limitations problem such as Metal Additive Manufacturing (MAM) techniques. MAM are promising to exceed the size limitations; however, the fusion-based techniques such as, (SLM) lead to the crystallization of the amorphous structure after few layers. Sinter-based MAM is another approach that allows 3D printing at low temperatures followed by sintering. Thus, a 3-steps MAM approach is proposed using lithography-based 3D printing, followed by debinding and pressureless sintering, relying only on heat to consolidate the material into a denser and monolithic object. The samples produced achieved an average densification of ~ 65% and showed amorphous-crystalline composite structure (~ 83–90% amorphous content) with signs of initial diffusion between the particles. The three-point bending test confirmed initial stages of sintering with modulus of rupture up to 7.9 MPa. These results demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed approach for additive manufacturing of Fe-based BMG. In the future, the sintering parameters (heating ramp, soaking temperature and time) should be further investigated to achieve comparable mechanical strength to as-cast Fe-based BMG. Lithography-based additive manufacturing Fe-based bulk metallic glass pressureless sintering glass transition temperature Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology → Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 02 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 01 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 28 Feb, 2026 Editorial decision: Major Revisions Needed 27 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8983428","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":599346912,"identity":"99666aa4-661a-4510-ac29-9d60db60255a","order_by":0,"name":"Mahmoud Zakaria Ibrahim","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA8ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHhDBDKETGGzAYhKkaEkjVQsDw2HCWnTbzx7d8LHN2p6/5/CzDw9qzieubWA+eJuHYVtiAw4tZmfy0m7ObEtnljjbZjwj4djtxG0H2JKteRhu49ZyIMfsNm/bYTaG8wzGDAlsIC08ZtJ4tZx/A9bCI3+e/TNDwr9zQC383/BruQGxRcLgbI8xQ2LbAZAtbAS0vDG7OeNcuoHhmTPFDIl9ycbbDrMZW84xuG2M22E5Zjc+lFnby51J38z445ud7LbjzQ9vvKm4LYtLCxbADCIMGBxJ0AIF9iTrGAWjYBSMguEKABfPXnVkDMbZAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5304-167X","institution":"Ain Shams University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mahmoud","middleName":"Zakaria","lastName":"Ibrahim","suffix":""},{"id":599346913,"identity":"2f7d3b3e-0b15-4002-abbf-79d051e0bc69","order_by":1,"name":"Christian GIERL-MAYER","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christian","middleName":"","lastName":"GIERL-MAYER","suffix":""},{"id":599346914,"identity":"318014ae-5f40-4347-87d8-9d4e0b7ba826","order_by":2,"name":"Gyoergy HARAKALY","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gyoergy","middleName":"","lastName":"HARAKALY","suffix":""},{"id":599346915,"identity":"5d158386-b397-4f56-92ae-644adb3b9ea8","order_by":3,"name":"Gerald MITTERAMSKOGLER","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gerald","middleName":"","lastName":"MITTERAMSKOGLER","suffix":""},{"id":599346916,"identity":"2a724b99-c74c-423f-8441-eb5272e8c02d","order_by":4,"name":"Tsung-Yuan KUO","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tsung-Yuan","middleName":"","lastName":"KUO","suffix":""},{"id":599346917,"identity":"71fa1788-a408-4620-872c-b1b9f105e059","order_by":5,"name":"Kuan-Wei CHEN","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kuan-Wei","middleName":"","lastName":"CHEN","suffix":""},{"id":599346918,"identity":"22602528-e5bd-4800-815a-388d028c0d51","order_by":6,"name":"Ahmed A.D. 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However, Fe-based BMG has low glass forming ability (GFA) and high tendency to crack during solidification, restricting its critical casting size to few millimeters. Alternatively, different fabrication techniques were proposed to overcome the size limitations problem such as Metal Additive Manufacturing (MAM) techniques. MAM are promising to exceed the size limitations; however, the fusion-based techniques such as, (SLM) lead to the crystallization of the amorphous structure after few layers. Sinter-based MAM is another approach that allows 3D printing at low temperatures followed by sintering. Thus, a 3-steps MAM approach is proposed using lithography-based 3D printing, followed by debinding and pressureless sintering, relying only on heat to consolidate the material into a denser and monolithic object. 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