SCHLACHER: Multi-material design approach for tailoring the strength of 3D-printed alumina ceramics
Channel: Chair of Structural and Functional Ceramics
Date: 2022-03-14

[Title]
A multi-material design approach for tailoring the strength of 3D-printed alumina ceramics

[Authors]
Josef SCHLACHER
Anna Katharina HOFER
Sebastian GEIER
Irina KRALEVA
Roman PAPŠÍK
Martin SCHWENTENWEIN
Raul BERMEJO

[Event]
46th International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC46)
Tuesday, 25th January 2022

[Abstract]
The Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing (LCM) technology has been established as outstanding technique for fabricating complex-shaped ceramics based on a layer-by-layer photo-polymerisation process. This work demonstrates the use of the LCM technology to print alumina-based ceramic parts with superior strength. Our approach utilizes the layer-by-layer capabilities of the printing process to fabricate a multi-material layered system. The combination of alumina (outer regions) with alumina-zirconia layers introduces compressive residual stresses in the surface layers associated with the different shrinkage of the combined materials during cooling down from sintering. The effect of compressive residual stresses on the strength of 3D printed alumina-zirconia based multilayers is investigated under biaxial bending tests and compared to 3D printed bulk alumina material. Results are analysed in the framework of Weibull statistics. A characteristic biaxial strength as high as 1 GPa is measured on the alumina-based multilayers, as compared to 650 MPa in bulk alumina, the difference corresponding to the magnitude of in-plane residual stresses in the external alumina layers. Designing complex-shaped multilayer ceramic architectures with tailored residual stresses through additive manufacturing technologies opens a new path for advanced ceramics with unprecedented mechanical behaviour.