3D printing a set of hubs (or what ever I think of)

How solid (in terms of the percentage) are the parts that your DMLS machine produces?

Its probably in excess of 98% solid. In order to avoid any issue with this, im not making any load baring part too thin. Also, im applying a factor of safety of 2.

I remember being taught that sintered materials (was titanium we discussed) can have a higher strength than machined materials. That is all I remember mind.

So, alot of people are asking about the material properties so I decided to actually look it up! Elastic modulus - 200GPa, Yield stress - 470MPa, Tensile strength - 570MPa. If we compare that to stainless 316, Elastic modulus 193GPa, Yield stress - 205MPa, Tensile strength - 515MPa.

The Elastic modulus is roughly on point, but the tensile strength is increased if printed, and the yield strength is HUGE if its 3D printed. Unfortunately, this isnt the whole story. 3D printed parts are not isotropic (if you take a single point in a part, the material properties are dependent on the direction to which the point is stressed). Im guessing they are cherry picking the best material properties and going with it. This is the exact same story for carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is incredibly strong in the direction of the fibers, but in any other direction, its shite. To get around this you have to make a carbon fiber weave or wrap a ribbon in multi directions, but then all of a sudden your strength/weight ratio has dropped significantly (carbon fiber rant over, steel is real).

Now what do these anisotropic material properties mean for a hub? the material properties are best in the plane the printer prints in. If the hub is sat on its end, then the flange will be in this plane. Since the front hub predominantly has to deal with radial stress, im laughing :)

Finally, when i looked up the spec of the printer, the layer thickness is 20microns, and that laser moves at 7m/s, and the machine weighs in excess of 3000kg!