High-performance ceramic parts with complex shape prepared by selective laser sintering: a review

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing technology which has shown great advantages in direct formation of the polymer, metal and their composites. However, ceramic parts prepared by the SLS still exhibit some fatal defects, including low density and poor mechanical properties. In this respect, recent advances for preparing ceramics have improved the final density and performance by adopting post-processing methods. In this review, three commonly used powder preparation approaches (i.e. mechanical mixing, solvent evaporation and dissolution-precipitation process) and two powder sintering mechanisms for the SLS are introduced. Porous ceramic parts are prepared directly through the SLS by virtue of their high porosity. And dense, high-performance Al2O3, ZrO2, kaolin and SiC ceramic parts with complex shape are prepared by introducing CIP technology into the SLS, indicating that the hybrid technology could be the promising route for preparing high-performance ceramic parts used in various fields.