Potential of filament-based additive manufacturing for Ni–Zn ferrite: towards components with complex geometries

Nickel–zinc (Ni–Zn) ferrites are widely used in the fabrication of high-frequency inductors operating above 1 MHz, particularly for filtering applications in power electronics. Ferrite manufacturers can benefit from advancements in additive manufacturing (AM), enabling the production of customised ferrite cores with complex geometries. In this work, an innovating AM process of Ni–Zn ferrites has been set up through a fused filament fabrication (FFF) printing stage from ferrite powder synthesis to sintered component. This proof of concept has been validated by a two-factor sintering design of experiments (temperature, time) and through bulk, microstructural and magnetic characterisations. The results indicate that the proposed process has the potential to achieve densifications of approximately 90% and real permeability values ( μ ′) in the range of 80 to 130, indicating performance levels comparable to those of conventional manufacturing techniques. The capabilities of the proposed process have been demonstrated by the printing of a ferrite-based 3D Benchy benchmark, highlighting its suitability for advanced component design in power electronics.