Geometric Modeling of Ceramics Dendrites to Modulate Energy and Material Flows by Using Stereolithography

Abstract

Through computer aided design, manufacturing and evaluation, various ceramics dendrites with spatially ordered micro cavities were successfully fabricated by utilizing stereolithography. Micrometer order ceramic lattices were propagated spatially in computer graphic space. Ceramics nanoparticles were dispersed in to photo sensitive liquid resins to obtain thixotropic slurries. The paste material was spread on a grass substrate by using a mechanical knife edge, and an ultra violet micro pattern was exposed to create cross sectional solid layer. After the layer stacking process, the obtained composite precursor was dewaxed and sintered in an air atmosphere. By the micro patterning stereolithography, solid electrolyte dendrites of yttria stabilized zirconia with spatially ordered porous structures were fabricated for fuel cell miniaturizations. Gaseous fluid profiles and pressure distributions in the formed ceramic lattices with various porosity percent were visualized and analyzed by a finite element method. Subsequently, alumina micro photonic crystals with a diamond lattice structure were fabricated. Electromagnetic wave properties were measured by using a terahertz time domain spectroscopy. A complete photonic band gap was exhibited, and a localized mode to select the wavelength was obtained by introducing a defect cavity.