Additive Manufacturing of fibre reinforced ceramics : slurry optimization for digital light processing and ceramic matrix composite strengthening

Abstract

Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) is a widely-applied high performance ceramic. It has excellent physical and chemical properties. In biomedical implementation, some worth noting are high abrasion resistance, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility.[1]One major drawback of Al2O3 is it brittleness. Using fiber-reinforced aluminum oxide instead could be a solution. A study involving WHPOX fibers revealed, that ceramic matrix composites (CMC) of a porose oxide ceramic matrix can show ductile properties. These behaviors originate from the porose matrix, which allows crack branching and fiber pull-out.[2]The manufacturing of CMC materials still follows traditional approaches in most applications. In the framework of this master thesis, it was investigated whether it is possible to produce Al2O3 composites with aluminum silicate fibers using a Digital Light Processing approach. DLP delivers an advantage as it possible to produce complex and individualized objects, which in regards to the implementation in personalized medicine in very important. The mechanical properties of the sintered samples were analyzed using the biaxial bending test, which is common for biocompatible ceramics.[3] The fiber-reinforcement should impact the bending strength as well as the elongation at break. [1] E. Wintermantel, S.-W. Ha, E. Wintermantel, and S.-W. Ha, “Biokompatible keramischeWerkstoffe,” Biokompatible Werkstoffe und Bauweisen, pp. 211–231, 1996.[2] M. Schmücker, “Faserverstärkte Oxidkeramische Werkstoffe,” Materwiss. Werksttech.,vol. 38, no. 9, pp. 698–704, 2007.[3] Technischen Komitee ISO/TC 106 „Dentistry“, Technischen Komitee CEN/TC 55 „Zahnheilkunde“ & DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung. Dentistry - Ceramic Materials (ISO 6872:2015 + Amd.1:2018). (2019).