Speaker
Description
3D Printing or additive manufacturing (AM) of ceramics and metals using lithography-based techniques is getting more and more attention in recent times. Using this route it is possible to combine the high precision and flexibility of lithographic AM processes with the exceptional material properties of ceramics and metals and thus, opening a completely new field for photopolymerization-based AM.
High-performance ceramics show some unique properties in terms of mechanical properties as well as excellent wear and temperature resistance while metals provide electrical and thermal conductivity and usually highly ductile behaviour. Especially components made by lithographic AM exhibit high precision with individual features of < 50µm, low surface roughness Ra < 1 µm and – because the approach goes via a conventional sintering route – the same basic microstructure as conventionally formed analogues. This contribution will present the achievable (thermo)mechanical properties for different ceramics (aluminium oxide, zirconium oxide, silicon nitride) and metals (stainless steel 316L) fabricated using lithographic AM. The resulting components are of competitive strength and quality as to conventionally fabricated parts with less than 10% deviation in terms of the individual mechanical characteristics. This demonstrates the possibility of using photopolymerization as a means to structure high-performance materials beyond polymers.
Moreover, this paper will also highlight first technical use cases from the medical, casting, and chemical industry where such 3D printed components are already used as implants, mountings, or moulds.
| Speaker Country | Austria |
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