This paper presents the development of wood-based composites material for 3D Printing process. The aim is to characterize the waste material from wood powder (WD) as an alternative material and low cost production for rapid prototyping product. The powder blends containing wood powder (90-120µm) with commercial ZP102 material from Z Corporation was used as the composite material. The materials were mechanically blended to produce composition of WD/ZP102(vol.%) 25:70, 50:50 and 75:25 respectively. The material was successfully processed on 3D printers machine, to produce three-dimensional components and followed by post-treatment with ZMax solution to enhance the mechanical properties. The mechanical properties, dimensional accuracy and surface quality of the components were evaluated and the results were compared with the standard ZP102 material. The result shows that the mechanical properties improved with the increased of wood powder content up to 50 (vol.%). However, dimensional accuracy and surface quality were decreased as the wood content increased. Further work on powder preparation is continued for surface quality improvement.

In developing a new method for weld based freeform fabrication, parameter affecting the geometry of single-pass need to be determined as it has great influence on dimensional accuracy and mechanical property of metallic part. In this paper, profile geometry and microstructure of single pass weld bead developed using Gas Metal Arc Welding Cold Metal Transfer (GMAW-CMT) was investigated. Observation on cross sectional weld bead indicates GMAW-CMT has capability to produce free spatter and crack defect weld bead. Profile geometry measurement shows weld bead develop at higher heat input has width size larger than the weld bead develop at lower heat input. Microstructure examination in the substrate reveals formation of columnar dendritic, cellular and planar structure while at buildup layer exhibit equiaxed dendritic structure