Evaluation of Stereolithography-Based Additive Manufacturing Technology for BaTiO3 Ceramics at 465 nm

Svyatoslav Chugunov,Andrey Smirnov,Oleg Dubinin,Anastasia Kholodkova,Igor Shishkovsky,Andrey Tikhonov

doi:10.3390/app12010412

Svyatoslav Chugunov, Andrey Smirnov + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/app12010412

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Abstract

A piezoceramic BaTiO3 material that is difficult for 3D printing was tested with a homemade laser-based stereolithography (SLA) setup. The high light absorbance of BaTiO3 in the spectral range of 350–410 nm makes this material hardly usable with most commercial SLA 3D printers. The typical polymerization depth of BaTiO3 ceramic pastes in this spectral range hardly reaches 30–50 µm for 40 vol % powder loading. A spectral change to 465 nm was realized in this work via a robot-based experimental SLA setup to improve the 3D printing efficiency. The ceramic paste was prepared from a preconditioned commercial BaTiO3 powder and used for 3D printing. The paste’s polymerization was investigated with variation of powder fraction (10–55 vol %), speed of a laser beam (1–10 mm/s, at constant laser power), and a hatching spacing (100–1000 µm). The polymerization depths of over 100 µm were routinely reached with the 465 nm SLA for pastes having 55 vol % powder loading. The spectral shift from 350–410 nm spectral region to 465 nm reduced the light absorption by BaTiO3 and remedied the photopolymerization process, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive optical analysis of prospective powders in SLA technology. Two multi-layered objects were 3D-printed to demonstrate the positive effect of the spectral shift.

Highlights

Additive manufacturing (AM) technology removes many restrictions in piezoceramics manufacturing related to the shape, size, and internal structure of the produced items
We demonstrate that besides the refractive index differences, the significant factor affecting the performance of the SLA technology is the light absorption of BaTiO3 [3] (BT)
We developed an SLA-based experimental setup featuring a 465 nm industrial laser connected to an industrial robot to assist with testing and 3D printing of simple BT greenbody items

Summary

Introduction

Additive manufacturing (AM) technology removes many restrictions in piezoceramics manufacturing related to the shape, size, and internal structure of the produced items.The AM implementation reduces the production cost of single items and small batches due to the exclusion from the manufacturing workflow of the expensive tools and molds, typical for traditional approaches [1]. Additive manufacturing (AM) technology removes many restrictions in piezoceramics manufacturing related to the shape, size, and internal structure of the produced items. Of the different AM approaches, the SLA/DLP-based methods (SLA—stereolithography apparatus; DLP—digital light processing) demonstrated the most promising results in terms of piezoceramics shaping, due to the high accuracy, reasonable dimensional control, and the usage of pastes and suspensions with high powder loadings (over 50 vol %) in the feedstock. Conventional piezo-materials based on lead zirconate titanate (PZT) have been used in industrial applications for decades. They demonstrate the best piezoelectric properties among piezoceramics when manufactured in a traditional or additive way [2]

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