Improved green and sintered density of alumina parts fabricated by binder jetting and subsequent slurry infiltration

Additive Manufacturing (AM) of ceramics is a constantly emerging field of interest both in research and in industry. Binder jetting-based AM of ceramics in particular offers the opportunity to produce large ceramic parts with a high wall thickness at a high throughput. One limitation is that it requires flowable powders, which are generally coarse and thus exhibit only limited sintering activity. The resulting low sintered densities impede the commercial binder jetting-based production of dense oxide ceramics. We present an approach to efficiently increase the green density of binder jetted alumina parts by optimized slurry infiltration, which also leads to a significant increase in the sintered density. In a first step, alumina parts were fabricated via binder jetting, using a 20-µm-sized alumina powder, yielding relative green densities of about 47–49%. Initial sintering studies with powder compacts showed that sintering even above 1900 °C is not sufficient to achieve acceptable densification. Therefore, green samples were infiltrated with a highly filled ceramic slurry to fill the remaining pores (about 2–5 µm in size) with smaller particles and thus increase the packing density. Particle volume content (40–50 vol%), particle size (100–180 nm) and the infiltration procedure were adapted for tests on cuboid samples to achieve a high penetration of the green bodies and a high degree of pore filling. In this way, the relative green density could be increased starting from about 47% after binder jetting, to 73.4% after infiltration and drying. After sintering at 1675 °C densities above 90% could be achieved, yielding three-point bending strengths up to 145 MPa. As a conclusion, this approach can be regarded as a promising route for overcoming the drawbacks of the binder jetting process on the way to denser, mechanically more stable sintered alumina parts.

Investigation of the influence of the mode of heat treatment of the initial powder on the efficiency of sintering zirconium ceramics by dilatometry

Using methods of synchronous thermal and X-ray structural analyzes applied to zirconium dioxide powders partially stabilized with yttrium obtained by chemical coprecipitation the processes of dehydration of these powders during annealing in air have been investigated. Using the dilatometry method, the regularities of compaction of powder compacts have been investigated with thermal sintering. It was found that the resulting powders mainly consist of the tetragonal modification zirconium dioxide and are nano-sized. The average particle size was 25 nm. The resulting powders are characterized by a high degree of agglomeration. It is shown that an increase in the thermal annealing temperature from 500 to 700ºС leads to partial baking of individual particles inside the agglomerate, and causes the formation of hard agglomerates, the presence of which complicates the processes of compaction and subsequent sintering. The presence of such agglomerates prevents the production of ceramics with high mechanical characteristics: density and porosity. Thermal annealing temperature increase leads to a decrease in the density of the sintered ceramic and a decrease in its hardness.

The Preparation of Dense Materials in the MgO–ZrO2 System by the Application of Nanometric Powders

Crystallization under hydrothermal conditions allowed us to prepare nanometric powders in the MgO–ZrO2 system of different magnesia concentrations. Sintering runs of these powder compacts studied using dilatometry measurements during heating and cooling revealed essential differences in their behavior. The microstructure of the resulting polycrystal is strongly related to the magnesia content in the starting powder, which strongly influences the phase composition of the resulting material and its mechanical properties. It should be emphasized that the novel processing method of such materials differs from the usual applied technology and leads to magnesia–zirconia materials of a different microstructure than that of “classical” materials of this kind.

An Investigation For Optimal Tool Kinematics In Powder Compaction Cycle To Minimize Density Gradient In Green Powder Compacts

An Investigation For Optimal Tool Kinematics In Powder Compaction Cycle To Minimize Density Gradient In Green Powder Compacts

An Investigation For Optimal Tool Kinematics In Powder Compaction Cycle To Minimize Density Gradient In Green Powder Compacts

An Investigation For Optimal Tool Kinematics In Powder Compaction Cycle To Minimize Density Gradient In Green Powder Compacts

Effect of hot-pressing process on mechanical properties and color changes of poplar powder compacts

Binderless poplar powder compacts were prepared using the hot-pressing technology. The effect of the forming process on the mechanical properties and surface color of the poplar powder compacts was studied. The effect of forming temperature on mechanical properties and surface color was more noticeable than the forming pressure and the holding time. With the change of the forming process parameters, the static bending strength of the compacts increased first and then decreased. The overall change trend of the surface hardness increased continuously. The overall color difference (ΔE*) of the compacts increased with the change of forming process parameters and the surface color deepened gradually. The results of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy showed that hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin in the compacts were greatly affected by the forming process parameters. The degradation of hemicellulose and cellulose produced many colored substances, and the content of lignin increased. These made the surface color of compacts deepen.

Stochastic finite element analysis of the diametral compression test of powder compacts and porous materials

This paper presents a stochastic finite element approach for modeling the mechanical behavior of powder compacts and porous materials under diametral compression test conditions. The main goal is assessing the validity of the diametral compression test as an indirect technique to estimate tensile strengths of brittle or quasi-brittle materials exhibiting porosity heterogeneity. Thus, the study seeks to predict the influence of porosity randomness on stress distributions and the spatial location of the highest tensile stress on thin disc-shaped specimens. The proposed formulation uses a stochastic framework that couples a random spatial field to the finite element analysis to include non-deterministic features. Two case studies consider comparable targets for the mean porosity but different coefficients of variations. For each case study, a total of 1000 realizations are conducted under identical loading and boundary conditions. The predicted stress distributions are compared to the ones from homogenous closed-form solutions from the literature. Then, the expected magnitude and location of the maximum tensile stress are evaluated by statistical means. Findings from the stochastic model show that porosity randomness induces stress concentration around less dense volumes and location deviation of the maximum tensile stress from the center of the discs. Likewise, porosity heterogeneity could affect the accuracy of experimental diametral compression tests even for small variance cases; and so, the reliability of the mechanical properties derived from models based exclusively on the classic assumption of material homogeneity.