Our poster for summer 2016 MURI research

1. Study of Slurry for 3D Ceramic Printer
Dulus Owen1 James Hickey1 Oyedotun Ayeni1 Alexander Cusson1
Yifan Deng2 Yi Zhang1,3 Huanmei Wu1,3 Jing Zhang1,3
1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indiana University – Purdue University
2. Department of Nano Engineering, University of California San Diego
3. Mentor
Abstract
Engineering ceramics are becoming
increasingly important in the industrial
landscape with the exceptional combination
of good mechanical, thermal and chemical
properties. Nevertheless, traditional ceramic
manufacturing technologies, such as
injection molding, lack the ability to compete
in a market of customized complex
components. Additive Manufacturing (AM)
therefore provides an important
contribution, given the nearly unlimited
design freedom. The goal of this project is to
develop a customized extrusion-based AM
technology using ceramic slurry. We
addressed this issue by designing ceramic
slurries and a custom extrusion holder for
the ceramic 3D printer. Alumina was used for
the ceramic slurry to produce specimens
with sufficient strength. In conclusion, we
were able to find the correct mixing
formation for the ceramic slurry and sinter
our printed specimens.
Material and Methods
Conclusions
Results
References
The Alumina slurry consists of 51.94 % vol. of alumina; 39.49 % vol. of deionized water (DI); 3.40 %
vol. of Darvan®, a dispersant; and 5.17 % vol. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), a binder. Ball milling and
Magnetic stirring were the main methods of combining materials.
There are four steps in creating the Alumina slurry. Step one, add A-16 SG alumina, incrementally,
to a mixture of DI and Darvan®. Step one utilizes a ball mill for 10 hours. Step two, begins the
polymer solution of PVP and DI. Within step two the Magnetic stirrer is used for 8-10 hours. Step
three combines the two (slurry and polymer solution) and mixes for 12 hours in the ball mill. Step
four, once specimen is printed, thermal pyrolysis is used to burn out the PVP-based binder. During
the thermal treatment sintering also takes place and the specimen becomes a solid.
The slurry container was adapted to a 3D
printer originally used to extrude plastics. We
designed the container mount using CAD.
Figure 2: 3D printer modified to extrude ceramic
slurry.
Mechanical 3DP system:
Slurry formation:
Figure 3 (left): The batch of alumina slurry
after ball milling for 12 hours. Figure 4
(right): Manually printed test piece before
sintering.
Alumina was combined with PVP, Darvan®,
and DI water to create a slurry which exhibits
yield pseudoplasticity, ideal for room
temperature printing [1]. A test piece was
printed manually, and it retained original
form.
Figure 5: Sintered test pieces at 1000ºC
The pieces were sintered, in order to test
their mechanical strength.
Results (cont’d)
Introduction
[1] Wiesner, Valerie Lynn, “Fabricating Complex-Shaped
Components by Room-Temperature Injection Molding of
Aqueous Ceramic Suspension Gels” (2013). Open Access
Dissertations. Paper 22, pp 17-19.
[2] Rueschhoff, Lisa and William Costakis, Matthew Michie,
Jeffrey Youngblood, Rodney Trice. “Additive Manufacturing of
Dense Ceramic Parts via Direct Ink Writing of Aqueous Alumina
Suspensions”. Int. J. Appl. Ceram. Technol., 1–10 (2016).
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is the process of
joining materials, and by using model data 3D
objects can be rendered. In extrusion based
AM, this is done layer upon layer, to allow for
more customizable parts. Once all the layers
are complete, thermal treatment will be used
to remove the impurities, leaving just
alumina. With the alumina-slurry, the custom
parts will be higher grade parts that are
stronger and cheaper to produce.
• Alumina ceramic suspension gel was used
for the ceramic slurry to produce
specimens with sufficient strength.
• We get the mixing formation for the
ceramic slurry and sinter our printed
specimens up to 1000 degrees Celsius for
6 hours, but the required sintering
temperature is 1650 degrees Celsius [2].
So we plan to use a new furnace in fall that
can sinter up to the required temperature
for longer hours.
• Once the alumina ceramic slurry mixture is
perfect, we can make another ceramic
slurry with different components like 45s5
glass powder, zirconium diboride powder,
and boron carbide powder.
Figure 1: Shows how the extrusion will layer.