Study on Stereolithography of Porous Zirconia Structures
JIAO Chen1, SHEN Lida1, GU Kaijie1, HAN Xiao2, TIAN Zongjun1
1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China;
2. Beijing Institute of Space Mechanics & Electricity, Beijing 100094, China
Fabrication of high performance ceramics with complex structures was the difficulty of traditional ceramic processing methods, with additive technology, the manufacturing restriction greatly reduces. However, how to use additive technology to realize the stable preparation of porous sample is still a key problem. The process of photocuring and sintering was studied and optimized for stereolithography of zirconia. The results show that the optimum parameters include 5s of exposure time, 30μm of layer thickness and 1480℃ of sintering temperature for the DLP method. With these parameters, zirconia structure with regular porous units could be prepared, and the microhardness and relative density were 13.91GPa and 95% respectively. The industrial CT model was reconstructed and compared with the theoretical model, indicating the homogeneity at the macroscopic scale; the stress distribution, the compressive curve in elastic stage and the morphology of the cross section corresponded well with the FEM results, indicating the optimal value of compressive properties. High performance porous zirconia samples formed by stereolithography can provide a new choice for lightweight design in aviation field.