A novel fabrication method of high strength alumina ceramic parts based on solvent-based slurry stereolithography and sintering

The aim of this paper is to develop a novel Solvent-based Slurry Stereolithography and Sintering (4S) process which can fabricate high strength ceramic parts. High performance solvent-based slurry, which was composed of alumina powder as a structure material, visible light curable resin as an organic binder and methanol as a solvent and a dispersant, could be prepared with colloidal processing. During layer casting, the diaphanous slurry can penetrate into pores of the subjacent layers. After drying, the binder in the penetrated liquid could connect the fresh layer and subjacent layers. Eventually, a gel-like green block could be built layer by layer. In the exposed region, the resin contained in the green block was cured to connect the alumina powders to be a part of the rigid green part. However, the un-exposed region remained gel-like and is methanol-soluble. Afterward, the green block was immersed in a methanol solution. Due to dissolving of the resin, the un-exposed region could completely collapse to obtain the rigid green part. The obtained rigid green part was then heated up to 600°C for binder burnout, and then sintered at 1600°C to obtain a dense alumina ceramic part. The results show an average tensile and flexural strength are 327 and 472 MPa, respectively, and a relative density of 98% was achieved. The proposed method of solvent-based slurry was briefly described and it was proved that the good capacity of solidifying thin layer. The results also show that the developed system can fabricate complicated rigid green parts quickly with high accuracy (less than 5 μm).

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