17-4PH Stainless Steel (FDM)

17-4PH stainless steel printed by fused deposition modeling is a precipitation-hardening martensitic steel made by a bound-metal route: metal powder in a polymer binder is extruded, then debound and sintered to a metal part. The printed part is oversized and weak, and it shrinks during sintering, so geometry needs compensation and long spans need supports. Sintered parts keep faint layer lines, a rougher surface than machined metal, some residual porosity and direction-dependent properties. They are often heat treated to an H condition and machined at critical features. Typical uses are jigs, fixtures, tooling, grippers and low-volume functional parts.