A team of researchers from the HRL Laboratories just announced that, after many months of research and development, they have finally succeeded in creating a new 3D printing technology designed to vastly overcome the limitations of working with traditional ceramic processing. For this, according to the project director, Zak Eckel, have created a resin formulation With which you can 3D print elements of different shapes and sizes.
This resin is precisely the basis for this new 3D printing technology since thanks to it the material can be heated to turn it into a completely dense and highly resistant ceramic. Based on testing, it appears that the resulting material can now withstand ultra-high temperatures of more than 1.700 degrees Celsius siendo up to ten times stronger than materials of similar structure.
HRL Laboratories create a new 3D printing technology to create ultra-resistant ceramics.
Traditionally ceramic pieces are consolidated from powders by sintering which, in turn, introduces the structure into the porosity thus limiting both the shapes that can be achieved and the resistance of the final pieces. Due to this, traditional ceramics are much more difficult to handle than polymers or metals since they cannot be modeled or machined with the same ease.
As reported by the Dr. Tobias Schaedler, Program Director:
With our new 3D printing process we can take full advantage of the many desirable properties of this silicon oxycarbon ceramic, including high hardness, strength and temperature capability, as well as resistance to abrasion and corrosion.