3D printed ceramics breakthrough

A method to 3D print structurally sound ceramic as well as heat resistant varieties was thought impossible - until now.

Silicon oxycarbide, a ceramic, was successfully created by Californian researchers and was found to be able to withstand temperatures above 1700°C

Dr Tobias Schaedler, program manager at HRL Laboratories in the US, said: “With our new 3D printing process we can take full advantage of the many desirable properties of this silicon oxycarbide ceramic, including high hardness, strength and temperature capability as well as resistance to abrasion and corrosion."

 Ceramics have the ability to withstand large amounts of heat and pressure without deforming and are also highly resistant to chemicals, which is why they are used for a variety of uses across various industries.

Current issues with 3D printing ceramics arise from the fact they cannot be machined or cast easily. Zac Eckel and Dr Chaoyin Zhou, also from HRL Laboratories, have invented a resin that can be 3D printed, before being fired in a kiln. The resin is a composition of binding glue and ceramic particles. The resulting product is claimed to be ten times as strong as similar materials.

The 3D printer prints 100? thick layers of the resin, which is then hardened with ultraviolet light to fuse monomers into polymers. The parts are kiln fired in temperatures up to 1000°C in argon gas. “It’s actually a pretty simple, straightforward idea,” said Eckel.

The team printed silicon carbide ceramics – used in high performance car disc brakes and bulletproof vests – using this method. This had never been achieved before with 3D printing. They believe different ceramics could be produced by adjusting the composition of the ceramic-plastic resin.

It is claimed both the process and material could be used in various ways, such as large components in jet engines and hypersonic vehicles to intricate parts in microelectromechanical systems.

The research was published in Science.