Direct fabrication process of ceramics based on stereolithography

This paper presents a novel direct ceramic shaping process-ceramic stereolithography by applying stereolithography in the ceramic shaping process.Through investigation based on experiments,it were found that viscosity and cured depth of ceramic suspensions play a decisive role in the building of green ceramic parts and the volume fraction of ceramic powder has a influence on the shrinkage of green ceramic parts.In order to reduce the shrinkage of green ceramic parts,the volume of ceramic powder in the suspension must be increased.The experimental results that ceramic suspension will meet the requirement of ceramic stereolithography process when the viscosity of suspension is lower than 3000MPa·s and the cured depth of suspension is greater than 200μm.A ceramic part with low shrinkage can be built successfully if the volume fraction of ceramic powder is higher than 40%.