Stereolithography-based additive manufacturing of gray-colored SiC ceramic green body

The stereolithography-based additive manufacturing of white-colored Al2O3 and ZrO2 ceramics has been widely reported, whereas the stereolithography-based additive manufacturing of gray-colored SiC ceramic is very difficult and challenged. In this paper, the reasons for the difficulty which SiC ceramic facing during stereolithography were discussed and compared to Al2O3 and ZrO2 ceramics. The effects of particle size, solid loading, stereolithography parameters, and photoinitiator kind and concentration on the curing ability of SiC slurries were further studied in detail. Finally, complex-shaped SiC ceramic green parts with high accuracy and high quality were successfully fabricated. This study demonstrated that the stereolithography-based additive manufacturing had a great possibility for preparing gray-colored SiC ceramics.