U.S. researchers hit ceramic 3D printing breakthrough

Researchers at a California, U.S.-based laboratory claimed to have successfully printed three-dimensional (3D) ceramic parts capable of withstanding high temperatures while retaining crucial strength.

Despite having several useful properties like durability, use of ceramics in complex shapes has largely remained challenging task because of some flaws in the material that can leave the door open for catastrophic failures.

But, researchers at HRL Sensors and Materials Laboratory have managed to create 3D printing ceramics by combines numerous techniques that have already been in use. The breakthrough can help create complex and complicated structures that are very strong and can withstand temperatures of up to 1,700 degrees Celsius.

Dr. Tobias Schaedler, a senior scientist at the lab, said, “Our team surmounted the challenges inherent in ceramics to develop an innovative material that has myriad applications in a variety of industries. The resulting material can withstand ultrahigh temperatures in excess of 1700°C and exhibits strength ten times higher than similar materials.”

Unlike polymers and metals, ceramics are very difficult to process because they can’t be cast or machined easily. Thus, it limits the shapes that can be achieved with ceramics.

Further technical details of the research, which was funded by HRL and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), appeared in a recent edition of journal Science.

In other news NextBigFuture reported, HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, California is a corporate research-and-development laboratory owned by The Boeing Company and General Motors specializing in research into sensors and materials, information and systems sciences, applied electromagnetics, and microelectronics.

HRL’s Senior Chemical Engineer Zak Eckel and Senior Chemist Dr. Chaoyin Zhou invented a resin formulation that can be 3D printed into parts of virtually any shape and size. The printed resin can then be fired, converting it into a high strength, fully dense ceramic. The resulting material can withstand ultrahigh temperatures in excess of 1700°C and exhibits strength ten times higher than similar materials.

In a statement provided to I4U, scientists have developed a new 3D printing technique that allows them to eliminate shortcomings of traditional ceramic processing and to create more strong and flawless ceramics

The material can withstand temperature in excess of 1,700 degree Celsius and scientists believe that it will soon be used in aerospace industry for building future spaceships and hypersonic aircrafts.

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