pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S11 - Additive Manufacturing
Oral Presentation
 
 

3D Printing of Preceramic Polymers by Stereolithography

Yazdani Sarvestani Hamidreza (1), Jakubinek Michael (2)*, Lacelle Thomas (2), Ashrafi Behnam (1), Sampson Kathleen (2), Aranguren van Egmond Derek (2), Barroeta Robles Julieta (1), Paquet Chantal (2)

(1) National Research Council Canada - Quebec - Canada, (2) National Research Council Canada - Ontario - Canada

Polymer-derived ceramics can address the shape constraints and limitations of many traditional ceramics processing techniques and enable near-net-shape manufacturing of ceramics with complex geometries through the use of polymer precursors shaped using polymer processing techniques and subsequently converted to a ceramic. Polymer additive manufacturing (3D printing) methods are a particularly versatile approach, offering high shape complexity and customization, and have recently been applied to polymer-derived ceramics. Here we describe the formulation of a commercial polysilazane (Ceraset PSZ20), which is typically polymerized via thermal cure, for photopolymerization and 3D printing via stereolithographic (SLA) printing. The preceramic polymer is combined with photoinitiator, crosslinkers and other additives, which enabled the definition of simple shapes via SLA. The printed polymer was subsequently pyrolyzed in argon leaving a polymer-derived ceramic with shape determined by the printed polymer. The partially optimized, printed ceramic was equivalent in density to samples produced by the conventional thermal cure process; however, in both cases the samples suffer from quality issues such as porosity due to gaseous byproducts released in the pyrolysis. We show that this issue can be reduced through incorporation of other filler particles. The method is particularly suited to producing relatively thin features and customized structures, which is promising for the production and study of bio-inspired, architected ceramic structures via low-cost SLA 3D printing.