We evaluated the effect of infill strategies of thermoplastic 3D-printing (T3DP) on the flaw type population and bending strength of 3 mol.% yttria partially stabilized zirconia (3Y-TZP) bars as published in Open Ceramics (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceram.2023.100367), a sisterly open access journal of Journal of the European Ceramics Society. The T3DP rapidly deposits micron-sized droplets, which fuse and solidify to form lines and layers, where we showed that, unlike in fused filament fabrication (FFF), the flaw type population determining strength is less affected by the infill strategies. In relation to FFF, a systematic investigation was carried out for the development of in-house alumina feedstock formulation by extrusion process. The printing parameters and the quality of the printed parts, the debinding and the sintering processes were influenced by the ratio between ethylene vinyl acetate and paraffin wax binder phase in the feedstock. The study was published in Open Ceramics (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceram.2023.100496).
Figure 17: Graphic representation of feedstock preparation and FFF additive manufacturing followed by debinding and sintering of 3Y-TZP ceramics (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceram.2023.100367), (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceram.2023.100496)
In collaboration with Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria (MuL), we have demonstrated the feasibility of texturing lithography-based additively manufactured (LCM) alumina ceramics within minutes by combining rapid radiation heating (~450 °C/min) and short dwell times (<20 min), opening the path for tailoring the microstructure of 3D-printed ceramics using pressure-less rapid sintering protocols. The study was published in Open Ceramics (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceram.2023.100428). Textured microstructures in ceramics have gained interest due to their beneficial effect on structural properties, such as increasing damage tolerance. Textured alumina may be otherwise conventionally achieved through templated grain growth (TGG) occurring during sintering at high temperatures and very long dwell times.
