Additive Manufacturing for Ceramics

Dr. Holly Shulman

President, Materials Scientist

Ceralink Inc. Rensselaer Technology Park

Troy, New York

Advanced Aerospace Summit October 18, 2013

Outline

Ceralink Background Additive Overview – Ceramics Focus Examples Additive for Rapid Manufacturing of Ceramics Summary

Ceralink Inc.

Founded in 2000 by Dr. Holly Shulman Small, woman owned business

Two facilities:10,000 sq ft for processing, fabrication, characterization, testing

Headquarters and R&D center in Troy, NY

Ceramic and metal processing, forming, heat treatment Additive, Microwave Assist Technology, and FastFuse™ RF Lamination

Mechanical Test Service in St. Clairsville, OH

Mechanical and thermo-physical testing

Contract R&D, Scale-Up, Specialized equipment design and build

Ceralink Additive Manufacturing

Ceralink Capabilities: Feasibility, process, product development Formula development – binders, powders, tapes Materials and product characterization Post processing expertise Production equipment guidance

Available Ceramic and Metal AM Processes: Laminated object manufacturing Extrusion Binder jetting

Additive Overview Need to Identify Products Technology push Need products to generate industry pull

Toys: Anti-aircraft gun, Plastic Extrusion (Shapeways)

Whiteware: Cup Porcelain ceramic (Figulo)

Consumer: iPhone case Polyimide, (Shapeways)

Industrial: impeller Binder Jet, SS/Bronze (ExOne)

Industrial advanced ceramics Extrusion (Robocasting LLC)

Art (?) in Titanium SLM (3D Systems)

Industrial advanced ceramics Lamination (CAM-LEM)

Industrial: Sand cast core Binder Jet (ExOne)

Industrial: Ti valve Binder Jet, Titanium (Ceralink, NRL, ExOne)

Additive Methods - Ceramics

AM Forming Methods for Ceramics:

Binder jet, materials jet Vat photopolymerization Lamination Extrusion

Robocasting - Extrusion

CAM-LEM – Laminated Objected Manufacturing Voxeljet – Binder jet

Binder Jet - Sand Casting and Investment Casting Products Sand cast molds by AM already commercialized Investment cast molds almost there

Need complicated shapes with fine features Need fine grains for surface finish Need high precision – no distortion

Ceramic investment casting cores

Ceramic sand cast mold

ExOne Binder jet printer

Laminated Object Manufacturing Ceralink upgrading CAM-LEM equipment

Not yet commercialized New patents in process Looking for commercialization partner

Laminated Object Manufacturing Ceralink Ceramics and Metals How it works

Tape fabrication – any tape cast material Precision laser cutting and stacking Lamination and sintering

Advantages: Fine feature size (5 - 50 um) Full density parts Uses commonly available tapes Compatible with ceramics or metals

Enabling for:

Micro fluidic and micro cooling devices Hierarchical structures Internal features – nature inspired design

Ceramic micro fluidic device

Biological Structures Nature Inspired AM

Venus Flower basket Human bone structure Nacre shell (aragonite platelets)

Extrusion-Robocast Lattices of Rods

Robocasting Composites A B C

Single material preforms

and porous components

Grading of materials through a common

orifice

1 mm

Alumina / metal graded interface

Discrete placement of materials with

multiple syringes

0 25 50 75 100

Vol% Si3N4 / W

Low TCE

High TCE

Robocasting Enterprises Molten metal filters

Molten metal filters typically made from sponge structure High variability in flow characteristics and lifetime Pollution from burning out polyurethane sponge

AM company extruded filters according to industry suggestions Performance improvement Commercialized to 1 million parts/year

Ceralink supporting new product advances

Microwave sintered Robocast parts Collaboration between Ceralink and Robocasting LLC

Alumina ceramic- Molten metal filter Molybdenum cermet heating element on alumina ceramic refractory

Ceralink Microwave Assist Technology MAT™ Rapid post process Kiln and furnace technology enhances radiant heat with microwaves Ultra fast binder removal, densification, glazing, curing of thermoset binders (e.g., sand molds), de-waxing of investment cast molds 50-80% reduction in firing time and energy consumption Batch or continuous

0

150

300

450

600

750

900

1050

1200

1350

1500

0 5 10 15 20 25Time (hrs)

Tem

pera

ture

(C)

MATConventional

Conventional Ramp

New Product Development Combining Robocasting Ceramics with Ceralink Microwave Assist Technology

Catalyst Supports for Industrial Applications Ceralink and Robocasting joint development Rapid manufacturing

Robocasting forming method with Microwave post process First fully automated AM to finished advanced ceramic products

Summary

Contact: Dr. Holly Shulman President, Materials Scientist (518) 283-7733 holly@ceralink.com www.ceralink.com

AM in plastics and wax for prototyping and industrial parts growing rapidly AM has exciting possibilities in ceramics and metals

Knowledge of AM methods and capabilities must be translated into actual parts and benefits to the end users

Improvements and extension of capabilities require materials science developments in concert with AM equipment