Bio Focus: 3D printing sends ceramics to the queue

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s to control light scattering and adsorption, ultimately improving 3D printing sends ceramics to the ceramic’s structural integrity. the queue When polymerized scaffolds formed dvances in three-dimensional (3D) from a mixture of siloxanes are washed printing are expected to one day of excess resin and subject to pyrolysis revolutionize industrial manufacturing at 1000°C, they undergo a 42% mass as well as everyday life: imagine edible loss (through escape of volatile organinks for downloaded dinners, and cusics) and 30% shrinkage while contomized jet-engine parts synthesized verting into a SiOC ceramic. Notably, on demand. At present, however, the shrinkage is uniform, resulting in an range of materials that is 3D printed is absence of porosity. Printed feature relatively limited. To address this limisizes, however, must be limited to less tation, researchers at HRL Laboratories than 3 mm to allow gases to escape have introduced a strategy to efficiently during pyrolysis. Regardless, the new print high-strength ceramic parts with additive fabrication process achieves complex shapes. The results are deunique architectures such as honeyscribed in a recent issue of Science combs and microlattices, resulting in (DOI: 10.1126/science.aad2688). components with impressive strength. Ceramics have many technologiSiOC microlattices exhibited 10 times cally valuable properties, including higher compressive strength relative high hardness, strength, heat resisto commercially available ceramic tance, and resistance to abrasion and foams of similar density. The printed corrosion. These properties make components also exhibited excellent ceramics attractive across diverse aphigh-temperature stability and survived plications areas ranging from micro3 hours at 1700°C with some surface electronics to aerospace engineering. degradation. “The authors provide a Achieving high-performing ceramic much larger set of experimental data components, however, often requires than available before that demonstrates demanding processing conditions, inhow stereolithography can be favorably cluding high temperatures and presexploited using pre-ceramic polymers sures. Conventional processing routes to generate components with outstandbased on consolidation of powders ing properties,” said Paolo Colombo introduce defects such as porosity and (leader of the Padova-based team) about cracks and also limit the diversity of the recent work from HRL. shapes that can be achieved. Many preThe introduced 3D printing apvious ceramic printing techniques have proaches are anticipated to generate adfollowed this convention, using slow, ditional ceramic materials as well, such layer-by-layer approaches to spatially as SiC, Si3N4, and SiOCN, through use of alternate precursor chemistries. Overall, the use of polymer-derived strategies to print ceramics significantly expands the potential of additive manufacturing beyond simple metal and polymer products. And the future queue for industrial printing is looking as exciting as ever. Lukmaan Bawazer Workflow for three-di