According to the South China Morning Post, scientists from Jiangnan University in China have invented a new ceramic 3D printing technology. The new technology will allow ceramics to be printed in air without any supporting structures. With this groundbreaking method, ceramic parts can be produced at different angles, allowing for shapes that were previously not possible with 3D printing technology.
Ceramics are widely used in electronics, mechanical engineering, and aerospace because of their structural integrity. They are common because they are wear resistant and also able to withstand high temperatures. However, some ceramic parts are designed and manufactured due to their brittleness and hardness.
Traditional ceramic 3D printing often requires additional support structures to prevent unsupported parts from breaking. Not only does this extra skeleton affect the efficiency of the print, but it can also cause problems when removing these supports.
To solve these problems, Professor Ren Liu and his team at Jiangnan University in China have developed a new printing paste and an improved curing technology to ensure that the material cures quickly. With this in mind, ceramic 3D printing will become more efficient and will also eliminate the need for support structures.
With this new technique, they were able to almost instantly harden multilayer filaments ranging in diameter from 0.41 to 3.5 mm. They were able to build various ceramic structures such as consoles and torsion springs.
Professor Ren Liu’s new paste is a light-sensitive ceramic paste that hardens and hardens quickly when exposed to near-infrared (NIR) light. “The printed curves are free to propagate in space without support. The printing process is smooth and continuous, with no heating or cooling,” Liu said in the April 25 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications.
According to the study, they also proved that near infrared light produces better results than the popular ultraviolet light.
In addition, the professor and his team can print hybrid ceramics using additives such as iron red, chrome green, or yttria-stabilized zirconia. They help to unify the sintering temperature of ceramics with different properties.
Post time: Jul-03-2023