High‐Quality Translucent Alumina Ceramic Through Digital Light Processing Stereolithography Method

Abstract

Herein, translucent alumina ceramics with fine complex geometric shapes are successfully fabricated by a digital light processing (DLP) process followed by vacuum sintering. The interlayer bonding condition is the key for preparing highquality translucent alumina for this layer-by-layer additive manufacturing (AM) method. The curing characteristics of alumina suspensions are carefully investigated by curing depth and polymerization conversion behavior. It is clear that the residual stress resulted from the polymerization process is more critical than the curing depth for selecting optimum curing time. Finally, high-quality translucent alumina ceramic and complex structures are realized using this novel AM technique. It reveals that DLP 3D printing method can be a promising technology for the fabrication of transparent ceramics.

3D-Printed Ceramics with Aligned Micro-Platelets

“…Sun et al reported obtaining translucent alumina using DLP using a particle size of ∼400 nm and vacuum sintering with MgAl 2 O 4 as the sintering additive. 37 They achieved a 55 vol % solids loading.…”

“…Among oxide ceramics, lithography-based 3D-printing of alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) has been given particular attention given it desirable properties for structural, energy, and electronics applications. ,,,− Chen et al reported that the viscosity of alumina slurries decreases as the fraction of fine powder (∼1.1 μm) to coarse powder (∼5.8 μm) increases, and the particle size distribution affects the curing behaviors slightly . Zhang et al achieved an alumina dispersion with 60 vol % and viscosity of ∼15 Pa s through the optimization of suspension parameters .…”

“…4 h sintering at 1650 °C was reported for an alumina suspension containing spherical ceramic particles of 500 nm, and with 80 wt % solids loading . Sintering aids such as MgAl 2 O 4 can also be used to lower the sintering duration and temperature . Sintering of oxide ceramics is most often performed in air; however, vacuum sintering (10 –3 to 10 –4 Pa) has also been reported …”

A review on the ceramic additive manufacturing technologies and availability of equipment and materials

“…ZrO 2 [276][277][278][279][280][281][282][283][284][285][286][287] [296] Heat exchanger/dissipation Al 2 O 3 [170], AlN [297][298][299] Tool with optimized design (inner cooling structure) Al 2 O 3 [180], cemented carbide [300] Optical application (lens, armored/ sensor window, etc.) Al 2 O 3 [301], MgAl 2 O 4 spinel [302], SiC [303], Nd-doped YAG [304], Yb-doped YAG [305] Antenna Al 2 O 3 +glass [306], Ba 1-x Sr x Zn 2 Si 2 O 7 [307], MgTiO 3 +CaTiO 3 [308] Nuclear fusion Li 2 TiO 3 [309], Li 2 SiO 3 [310] Table VIII waste. Thus, machines that work with a small amount of material (60 mL) [316] and studies about recycling raw materials [286,354] have emerged.…”

Compositionally Disordered Crystalline Compounds for Next Generation of Radiation Detectors

“…In addition, we note another promising method—Stereolithography (or Vat photopolymerization) [ 132 , 133 , 134 , 135 , 136 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 140 , 141 ]. The method of stereolithography is based on the layer-by-layer controlled polymerization of photosensitive monomers (or suspensions with ceramic powders) under light irradiation.…”