Preparation and characterization of UV curable Al2O3 suspensions applying for stereolithography 3D printing ceramic microcomponent

Effect of Silane-Modified Nano-Al2O3-Reinforced Vinyl Ester Resin on the Flexural Properties of Basalt Fiber Composites

This study incorporated silane coupling agent KH550-modified nano-alumina (KH550-Al2O3) into vinyl ester resin (VER) for modification. The effect of KH550-Al2O3 on the flexural properties of VER and basalt fiber-reinforced vinyl ester resin (BF/VER) composites was investigated. In addition, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and long-term elevated temperature aging of the composites were performed. The surface functionalization of KH550-Al2O3 was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). It was revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that the aggregation of KH550-Al2O3 had been reduced within the VER matrix, the resin was effectively enhanced, and the fiber-matrix interfacial bonding was improved. Based on the experimental results, the optimal filler loading of KH550-Al2O3 was 1.5 wt%. Compared with the control group, the resin matrix exhibited 18.1% and 22.7% improvements in flexural strength and modulus, respectively, while the composite showed increases of 9.3% and 7.6% in these properties. At 30 °C, the storage modulus of the composites increased by 11.5%, with the glass transition temperature rising from 111.0 °C to 112.5 °C. After 60 days of thermal aging at 120 °C, the retained flexural strength and modulus were 64.3% and 87.4%, respectively.

Impact of Optimal Silane Concentration on the Rheological Properties and 3D Printing Performance of Al2O3-Acrylate Composite Slurries

In this study, 3-trimethoxy-silylpropane-1-thiol (MPTMS) was used as a surface modifier for Al2O3 powder to systematically analyze the effects of MPTMS concentration on the rheological properties, photocuring characteristics, and 3D printing performance of photocurable composite slurries. MPTMS concentration significantly influenced the rheological behavior of the slurry. Slurries containing 2 wt.% and 5 wt.% MPTMS exhibited a wide linear viscoelastic range (LVR). However, at concentrations of 10 wt.% and 20 wt.%, the LVR range narrowed, which led to reduced dispersion stability. In dispersion stability tests, the slurry with 2 wt.% MPTMS showed the most stable dispersion, while the 5 wt.% MPTMS concentration exhibited the highest photocuring rate. In 3D printing experiments, the 5 wt.% MPTMS concentration resulted in the most stable printed structures, whereas printing failures occurred with the 2 wt.% concentration. At 10 wt.% and 20 wt.%, internal cracking was observed, leading to structural defects. In conclusion, MPTMS forms silane bonds on the Al2O3 surface, significantly impacting the stability, rheological properties, and printing quality of Al2O3-acrylate composite slurries. An MPTMS concentration of 5 wt.% was found to be optimal, contributing to the formation of stable and robust structures.

Enhancing 3D printed ceramic components: The function of dispersants, adhesion promoters, and surface-active agents in Photopolymerization-based additive manufacturing

In the domain of photopolymerization-based additive manufacturing (3D vat printing), ceramic photopolymer resins represent a multifaceted composite, predominantly comprising oligomers, ceramic fillers, and photoinitiators. However, the synergy between the ceramic fillers and polymer matrix, along with the stabilization and homogenization of the composite, is facilitated by specific additives, notably surface-active agents, dispersants, and adhesion promoters. Although these additives constitute a minor fraction in terms of volume, their influence on the final properties of the material is substantial. Consequently, their meticulous selection and integration are crucial, subtly guiding the performance and characteristics of the resultant ceramic matrix composites toward enhancement. This review delves into the array of dispersants and coupling agents utilized in the additive manufacturing of ceramic components. It elucidates the interaction mechanisms between these additives and ceramic fillers and examines how these interactions affect the additive manufacturing process. Furthermore, this review investigates the impact of various additives on the rheological behavior of ceramic slurries and their subsequent effects on the post-manufacturing stages, such as debinding and sintering. It also addresses the challenges and prospects in the optimization of dispersants and coupling agents for advanced ceramic additive manufacturing applications.

Rheological Behavior of SiO2 Ceramic Slurry in Stereolithography and Its Prediction Model Based on POA-DELM

Ceramic slurry is the raw material used in stereolithography, and its performance determines the printing quality. Rheological behavior, one of the most important physical factors in stereolithography, is critical in ceramic printing, significantly affecting the flow, spreading, and printing processes. The rheological behavior of SiO2 slurry used in stereolithography technology is investigated in the current research using different powder diameters and temperatures. The results present the apparent non-Newtonian behavior. The yielding characteristics occur in all cases. For single-powder cases, the viscosity decreases when the powder diameter is increased. When the nano-sized and micro-sized powders are mixed in different proportions, a more significant proportion of micron-sized powders will decrease the viscosity. With an increase in the nano-sized powders, the slurry exhibits the shear thinning behavior; otherwise, the shear thickening behavior is observed. Thus, the prediction model is built based on the use of the pelican optimization algorithm-deep extreme learning machine (POA-DELM), and the model in then compared with the fitted and traditional models to validate the effectiveness of the method. A more accurate viscosity prediction model will contribute to better fluid dynamic simulation in future work.

Assessing the Dispersion Stability of Antimicrobial Fillers in Photosensitive Resin for Vat Polymerization 3D Printing

Polymers are widely used in healthcare due to their biocompatibility and mechanical properties; however, the use of polymers in medical products can promote biofilm formation, which can be a source of hospital-acquired infections. Due to this, there is a rising demand for inherently antimicrobial polymers for devices in contact with patients. 3D printing as a manufacturing technology has increased exponentially in recent years. Surgical guides, orthotics, and prosthetics, among other medical devices, created by vat polymerization have been used in hospitals to treat patients. Biocompatible resins are available for these applications, but there is a lack of antimicrobial resins, which would further improve the technology for clinical use. The focus of this study was to assess settling of candidate antimicrobial metal and metal oxide fillers in vat polymerization resin to determine which fillers were compatible with the resin. Dispersion stability was assessed by measuring settling over the maximum print duration of the medium priced desktop 3D printers to evaluate printability of 17 potentially antimicrobial resins. Eight materials displayed settling behavior during the test period: molybdenum oxide, zirconium oxide nanopowder, scandium oxide, zirconium oxide, titanium oxide, tungsten oxide, lanthanum oxide, and magnesium oxide. No settling was observed for manganese oxide, magnesium oxide nanopowder, titanium oxide nanopowder, copper oxide, silver oxide, zinc oxide nanopowder, zinc oxide, silver nanopowder, and gold nanopowder during the test period. This method could be applied to assess settling of other fillers introduced into 3D printing resins before actual printing.

How to Improve the Curing Ability during the Vat Photopolymerization 3D Printing of Non-Oxide Ceramics: A Review

Vat photopolymerization (VP), as an additive manufacturing process, has experienced significant growth due to its high manufacturing precision and excellent surface quality. This method enables the fabrication of intricate shapes and structures while mitigating the machining challenges associated with non-oxide ceramics, which are known for their high hardness and brittleness. Consequently, the VP process of non-oxide ceramics has emerged as a focal point in additive manufacturing research areas. However, the absorption, refraction, and reflection of ultraviolet light by non-oxide ceramic particles can impede light penetration, leading to reduced curing thickness and posing challenges to the VP process. To enhance the efficiency and success rate of this process, researchers have explored various aspects, including the parameters of VP equipment, the composition of non-oxide VP slurries, and the surface modification of non-oxide particles. Silicon carbide and silicon nitride are examples of non-oxide ceramic particles that have been successfully employed in VP process. Nonetheless, there remains a lack of systematic induction regarding the curing mechanisms and key influencing factors of the VP process in non-oxide ceramics. This review firstly describes the curing mechanism of the non-oxide ceramic VP process, which contains the chain initiation, chain polymerization, and chain termination processes of the photosensitive resin. After that, the impact of key factors on the curing process, such as the wavelength and power of incident light, particle size, volume fraction of ceramic particles, refractive indices of photosensitive resin and ceramic particles, incident light intensity, critical light intensity, and the reactivity of photosensitive resins, are systematically discussed. Finally, this review discusses future prospects and challenges in the non-oxide ceramic VP process. Its objective is to offer valuable insights and references for further research into non-oxide ceramic VP processes.

A biocompatible silicon nitride dental implant material prepared by digital light processing technology

For decades, titanium has been the preferred material for dental implant fabrication. However, metallic ions and particles can cause hypersensitivity and aseptic loosening. The growing demand for metal-free dental restorations has also promoted the development of ceramic-based dental implants, such as silicon nitride. In this study, silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) dental implants were fabricated for biological engineering by photosensitive resin based digital light processing (DLP) technology, comparable to conventionally produced Si₃N₄ ceramics. The flexural strength was (770 ± 35) MPa by the three-point bending method, and the fracture toughness was (13.3 ± 1.1) MPa · m^1/2 by the unilateral pre-cracked beam method. The elastic modulus measured by the bending method was (236 ± 10) GPa. To confirm whether the prepared Si₃N₄ ceramics possessed good biocompatibility, in vitro biological experiments were performed with the fibroblast cell line L-929, and preferable cell proliferation and apoptosis were observed at the initial stages. Hemolysis test, oral mucous membrane irritation test, and acute systemic toxicity test (oral route) further confirmed that the Si₃N₄ ceramics did not exhibit hemolysis reaction, oral mucosal stimulation, or systemic toxicity. The findings indicate that Si₃N₄ dental implant restorations with personalized structures prepared by DLP technology have good mechanical properties and biocompatibility, which has great application potential in the future.

Development of a Novel Tape-Casting Multi-Slurry 3D Printing Technology to Fabricate the Ceramic/Metal Part

Printing ceramic/metal parts increases the number of applications in additive manufacturing technology, but printing different materials on the same object with different mechanical properties will increase the difficulty of printing. Multi-material additive manufacturing technology is a solution. This study develops a novel tape-casting 3D printing technology that uses bottom-up photopolymerization to fabricate the green body for low-temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) that consist of ceramic and copper. The composition of ceramic and copper slurries is optimized to allow printing without delamination and sintering without cracks. Unlike traditional tape-casting processing, the proposed method deposits two slurries on demand on a transparent film, scrapes it flat, then photopolymerization is induced using a liquid crystal displayer to project the layer pattern beneath the film. The experimental results show that both slurries have good bonding strength, with a weight ratio of powder to resin of 70:30, and print a U-shaped copper volume as a circuit within the LTCC green body. A three-stage sintering parameter is derived using thermogravimetric analysis to ensure good mechanical properties for the sintered part. The SEM images show that the ceramic/copper interface of the LTCC sintered part is well-bonded. The average hardness and flexural strength of the sintered ceramic are 537.1 HV and 126.61 MPa, respectively. Volume shrinkage for the LTCC slurry is 67.97%, which is comparable to the value for a copper slurry of 68.85%. The electrical resistance of the printed copper circuit is 0.175 Ω, which is slightly greater than the theoretical value, hence it has good electrical conductivity. The proposed tape-casting 3D printer is used to print an LTCC benchmark. The sintered benchmark part is validated for the application in the LTCC application.

Effects of n-Al2O3 and μ-TiCN on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Al2O3 Composite Ceramics Manufactured by Material Extrusion and Photo-Polymerization Combined Process

Alumina (Al2O3) composite ceramics with different composition ratio and particle-size distribution were fabricated by the material extrusion and photo-polymerization combined process (MEX-PPM) based on additive-manufacturing (AM) technology in our previous work. These particles were nanosized Al2O3 (n-Al2O3), micron-sized TiCN (μ-TiCN) and Al2O3. Effects of n-Al2O3 and μ-TiCN on Al2O3 composite ceramics were investigated by characterizing the volume density, EDS spectrum, mechanical properties and microstructure of the prepared samples. It was found that n-Al2O3 had a significant effect on the hardness of Al2O3 composite ceramics, μ-TiCN, with excellent performance in density, flexural strength and fracture toughness. The Al2O3 composite ceramics with optimum contents of 10 wt % n-Al2O3 and 30 wt % μ-TiCN showed good microstructure and mechanical properties. Their porosity and volume density were at 4.073% and 4.177 g/cm3, respectively. Their hardness, flexural strength and fracture toughness were at 16.592 GPa, 592.875 MPa and 6.308 MPa/mm2. The flexural strength of the ceramics was significantly higher than that of Al2O3 ceramics prepared by SLA in document (178.84 ± 17.66 MPa), which had great potential in high-pressure strength structure.

Fabrication and biological evaluation of 3D printed calcium phosphate ceramic scaffolds with distinct macroporous geometries through digital light processing technology

Digital light processing (DLP)-based 3D printing technique holds promise in fabricating scaffolds with high precision. Here raw calcium phosphate (CaP) powders were modified by 5.5% monoalcohol ethoxylate phosphate (MAEP) to ensure high solid loading and low viscosity. The rheological tests found that photocurable slurries composed of 50 wt % modified CaP powders and 2 wt % toners were suitable for DLP printing. Based on geometric models designed by CAD system, three printed CaP ceramics with distinct macroporous structures were prepared, including simple cube, octet-truss, and inverse face-centered cube (fcc), which presented the similar phase composition and microstructure, but the different macropore geometries. Inverse-fcc group showed the highest porosity and compressive strength. The in vitro and in vivo biological evaluations were performed to compare the bioactivity of three printed CaP ceramics, and the traditional foamed ceramic was used as control. It suggested that all CaP ceramics exhibited good biocompatibility, as evidence by an even bone-like apatite layer formation on the surface, and the good cell proliferation and spreading. A mouse intramuscular implantation model found that all of CaP ceramics could induce ectopic bone formation, and Foam group had the strongest osteoinduction, followed by Inverse-fcc, while Cube and Octet-truss had the weakest one. It indicated that macropore geometry was of great importance to affect the osteoinductivity of scaffolds, and spherical, concave macropores facilitated osteogenesis. These findings provide a strategy to design and fabricate high-performance orthopedic grafts with proper pore geometry and desired biological performance via DLP-based 3D printing technique.

Application of Spectroscopy in Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly expanding material production technique that brings new opportunities in various fields as it enables fast and low-cost prototyping as well as easy customisation. However, it is still hindered by raw material selection, processing defects and final product assessment/adjustment in pre-, in- and post-processing stages. Spectroscopic techniques offer suitable inspection, diagnosis and product trouble-shooting at each stage of AM processing. This review outlines the limitations in AM processes and the prospective role of spectroscopy in addressing these challenges. An overview on the principles and applications of AM techniques is presented, followed by the principles of spectroscopic techniques involved in AM and their applications in assessing additively manufactured parts.

Recent Developments of Biomaterials for Additive Manufacturing of Bone Scaffolds

Recent years have witnessed surging demand for bone repair/regeneration implants due to the increasing number of bone defects caused by trauma, cancer, infection, and arthritis worldwide. In addition to bone autografts and allografts, biomaterial substitutes have been widely used in clinical practice. Personalized implants with precise and personalized control of shape, porosity, composition, surface chemistry, and mechanical properties will greatly facilitate the regeneration of bone tissue and satiate the clinical needs. Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, also known as 3D printing, are drawing fast growing attention in the fabrication of implants or scaffolding materials due to their capability of manufacturing complex and irregularly shaped scaffolds in repairing bone defects in clinical practice. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of recent progress in the development of materials and techniques used in the additive manufacturing of bone scaffolds. In addition, clinical application, pre-clinical trials and future prospects of AM based bone implants are also summarized and discussed.

A study on biosafety of HAP ceramic prepared by SLA-3D printing technology directly

Hydroxyapatite powder was mixed into photosensitive resin to form complex shape scaffold using SLA-3D printing technology, and then the final entity was obtained successively by debinding and sintering. It is crucial to confirm whether the prepared hydroxyapatite scaffold have the toxic effects after our designed printing, debinding, and sintering processes because the photosensitive resin in the starting printing paste is poisonous to cells. To investigate these issues in details, thermogravimetric analysis (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), in vitro cytotoxicity test, and implantation pre-experiment in the rabbit parietal were performed, aiming to develop the SLA-3D prepared hydroxyapatite scaffold. Through thermal analysis, it was proved that photosensitive resin would be completely pyrolyzed at temperature ranging from 350 °C to 580 °C, corresponding to a secondary chemical reaction mechanism. Combined with cytotoxicity test results, it is unquestionable that the toxic substances would be totally decomposed after debinding process and a good biocompatible HAP samples could be obtained. The finally prepared HAP samples with micro-holes showed good biosafety in pre-experiment of the rabbit parietal implantation.