Shrinkage, microstructure, and mechanical properties of sintered 3D-printed silica via stereolithography

Stereolithography has been used to create ceramic parts with complex geometry that is difficult to achieve with conventional fabrication techniques. This study used stereolithography to print silica honeycomb structures with a commercial Formlabs Form2 printer. The printed samples were sintered at different temperatures, and the print shape was retained up to 1300 degrees C, but significant distortion from partial melting occurred at 1400 degrees C. Higher sintering temperatures lead to more shrinkage, but it is non-uniform among directions, with the open cell plane shrinking more than the dense plane of the sample. As expected, the density of samples also increases with the sintering temperature. At higher sintering temperatures, there is an increase in cristobalite and a decrease in quartz, tridymite, and amorphous silica. Regarding mechanical properties, the out-of-plane compressive strength is approximately one order of magnitude higher than the in-plane compressive strength. When compressed along the out-of-plane direction, the samples sintered at lower temperatures surprisingly exhibit higher strength, which is explained by the micro-cracking mechanism. As expected, the samples sintered at higher temperatures display higher strength when compressed along the in-plane direction.

Automated summary

This study used stereolithography to print complex silica honeycomb structures, and the sintering process increased the density and strength of the material. Furthermore, it was found that there were differences in shrinkage and mechanical properties among different directions.