Manufacture of zircon bulk parts and scaffolds by digital light processing

[EN] Zircon (ZrSiO4) is a low cost and widely available ceramic raw material used in thermal applications due to its low thermal conductivity and high thermal shock resistance. The aim of the present work was to obtain solid and reticular zircon pieces by digital light processing (DLP), scarcely reported in the literature. For this aim, the dispersion of zircon powders in two different solvents (benzyl alcohol and cyclohexanol) was studied using different UV-curable polymeric systems. The effect of different dispersant concentrations as well as different dispersion/homogenisation methods were evaluated by rheological characterisation. Bulk bodies and scaffolds were obtained by DLP, studying the effect of different printing parameters on the quality and resolution of the produced parts. Debinding and sintering steps were optimised using different thermal cycles. Dense zircon scaffolds (>96%TD) were obtained from the cyclohexanol based slurries. Finally, the obtained materials were characterised in terms of crystallographic composition and microstructure.