CAREER: Novel Powder-Bed Ceramic Additive Manufacturing Assisted with Water-Based Inks, Layerwise Uniaxial Compression and Temperate Heating for Selective Particle Fusion

职业：新型粉床陶瓷增材制造辅助水基油墨、分层单轴压缩和温控加热以实现选择性粒子融合

• 批准号: 2236905
• 负责人: Xuan Song
• 金额: $ 60.35万
• 依托单位: University of Iowa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-04-01 至 2028-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236905&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Novel; Powder; Bed; Ceramic

Structural ceramics are strategically important in many specialty applications, including thermal insulators, armors, implants and sensors. Manufacturing of complex ceramic components, however, has always been problematic and can be costly and laborious due largely to their unique properties, e.g., high melting points and excessive hardness. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers an alternative to produce parts with complex geometries that are challenging to make using traditional manufacturing processes. While of a great potential, current ceramic AM technologies still have limitations in making complex structures with thick walls (e.g., thicker than 10 mm), because of the use of an organic binder and the difficulty in its complete removal during de-binding. This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award supports fundamental research to investigate and mature a new ceramic powder-bed AM process that is assisted with water-based inks, so to eliminate the need of binder removing, followed by compression and mild heating to achieve particle fusion. If successful, this process will enable complex thick-walled ceramic component manufacture in a commercial scale and help accelerate wider adoption of ceramic AM in many industries, including healthcare, energy and defense. This project will also pique the interest of students at different grades in ceramic AM through ceramic-printing programs, including “Print-in-the-Dark-Side” for students with vision impairment, “Ceramic Art 3D Printing” for K-12 students, and cross-discipline ceramic printing initiatives for undergraduate students.This CAREER research aims to understand the processing mechanism of a new ceramic AM in making complex thick-walled ceramic parts through employing a selectively deposited water-based ink, followed by uniaxial compression layer by layer. Once the print is completed, mild heating is applied (50 to 200 Celsius) to the built powder bed, in which upon evaporation of the ink due to heating, particles in the ink-wetted region will be fused together. The project will study ceramic particles made of lithium molybdate, calcium phosphate and barium titanate, and employ instrumented compression tests (up to 100 megapascals), multi-scale experimental characterizations, and pore-scale numerical simulations to elucidate the effects of different processing conditions and material properties on the fusion mechanism and degree of ceramic particles, including the ink chemistry and saturation level, the compression magnitude, duration and cycles, as well as the heating temperature and time. The research findings are expected to uncover the mechanism that governs the neck formation and growth between ceramic particles in the studied ceramic AM process, identify the key factors that determine the particle fusion density and strength, and ultimately, enable making complex thick-walled ceramic components with minimum defects, full density and enhanced properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

结构陶瓷在许多特殊应用中具有重要的战略意义，包括热绝缘体，装甲，植入物和传感器。然而，复杂陶瓷部件的制造一直是有问题的，并且可能是昂贵和费力的，这主要是由于它们的独特性质，例如，高熔点和过高的硬度。增材制造（AM）提供了一种替代方案，用于生产具有复杂几何形状的零件，这些零件使用传统制造工艺具有挑战性。虽然具有巨大的潜力，但目前的陶瓷AM技术在制造具有厚壁的复杂结构（例如，厚度大于10 mm），这是因为使用了有机粘合剂，并且在脱粘过程中难以将其完全除去。该学院早期职业发展（CAREER）奖支持基础研究，以研究和成熟一种新的陶瓷粉末床AM工艺，该工艺采用水基油墨辅助，从而消除了去除粘合剂的需要，然后进行压缩和温和加热以实现颗粒融合。如果成功，这一工艺将使复杂的厚壁陶瓷部件的制造能够实现商业规模，并有助于加速陶瓷增材制造在许多行业的广泛采用，包括医疗保健、能源和国防。该项目还将通过陶瓷打印计划激发不同年级学生对陶瓷AM的兴趣，包括为视力障碍学生提供的“在黑暗中打印”，为K-12学生提供的“陶瓷艺术3D打印”，和跨学科的陶瓷打印倡议的本科生。这项职业生涯的研究旨在了解一种新的陶瓷AM在制作复杂的厚，壁陶瓷部件通过采用选择性沉积的水基油墨，然后通过逐层单轴压缩。一旦打印完成，温和加热（50至200摄氏度）施加到构建的粉末床，其中在油墨由于加热而蒸发时，油墨润湿区域中的颗粒将熔合在一起。该项目将研究由锂离子电池，磷酸钙和钛酸钡制成的陶瓷颗粒，并采用仪器压缩试验（高达100兆帕斯卡）、多尺度实验表征和孔尺度数值模拟，以阐明不同加工条件和材料性质对陶瓷颗粒的熔融机制和程度的影响，包括油墨化学和饱和度，压缩幅度、持续时间和周期，以及加热温度和时间。研究结果有望揭示在所研究的陶瓷AM工艺中控制陶瓷颗粒之间颈部形成和生长的机制，确定决定颗粒熔合密度和强度的关键因素，并最终能够制造具有最小缺陷的复杂厚壁陶瓷部件，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

项目成果

Binder-free additive manufacturing of ceramics using hydrothermal-assisted jet fusion

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2023.06.056
• 发表时间: 2023-06
• 期刊: Journal of the European Ceramic Society
• 影响因子: 5.7
• 作者: F. Fei;L. Kirby;Alexander Gralczyk;Xuan Song