TY - JOUR

T1 - Additive manufacturing of zirconia parts by fused filament fabrication and solvent debinding: Selection of binder formulation

AU - Cano Cano, Santiago

AU - Gonzalez-Gutierrez, Joamin

AU - Sapkota, Janak

AU - Spörk, Martin

AU - Arbeiter, Florian

AU - Schuschnigg, Stephan

AU - Holzer, Clemens

AU - Kukla, Christian

PY - 2019/3/1

Y1 - 2019/3/1

N2 - The material extrusion additive manufacturing technique known as fused filament fabrication (FFF) is an interesting method to fabricate complex ceramic parts whereby feedstocks containing thermoplastic binders and ceramic powders are printed and the resulting parts are subjected to debinding and sintering. A limiting factor of this process is the debinding step, usually done thermally. Long thermal cycles are required to avoid defects such as cracks and blisters caused by trapped pyrolysis products. The current study addresses this issue by developing a novel FFF binder formulation for the production of zirconia parts with an intermediate solvent debinding step. Different unfilled binder systems were evaluated considering the mechanical and rheological properties required for the FFF process together with the solvent debinding performance of the parts. Subsequently, the same compounds were used in feedstocks filled with 47 vol.% of zirconia powder, and the resulting morphology was studied. Finally, the most promising formulation, containing zirconia, styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene copolymer, paraffin wax, stearic acid, and acrylic acid-grafted high density polyethylene was successfully processed by FFF. After solvent debinding, 55.4 wt.% of the binder was dissolved in cyclohexane, creating an interconnected porosity of 29 vol.% that allowed a successful thermal debinding and subsequent pre-sintering.

AB - The material extrusion additive manufacturing technique known as fused filament fabrication (FFF) is an interesting method to fabricate complex ceramic parts whereby feedstocks containing thermoplastic binders and ceramic powders are printed and the resulting parts are subjected to debinding and sintering. A limiting factor of this process is the debinding step, usually done thermally. Long thermal cycles are required to avoid defects such as cracks and blisters caused by trapped pyrolysis products. The current study addresses this issue by developing a novel FFF binder formulation for the production of zirconia parts with an intermediate solvent debinding step. Different unfilled binder systems were evaluated considering the mechanical and rheological properties required for the FFF process together with the solvent debinding performance of the parts. Subsequently, the same compounds were used in feedstocks filled with 47 vol.% of zirconia powder, and the resulting morphology was studied. Finally, the most promising formulation, containing zirconia, styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene copolymer, paraffin wax, stearic acid, and acrylic acid-grafted high density polyethylene was successfully processed by FFF. After solvent debinding, 55.4 wt.% of the binder was dissolved in cyclohexane, creating an interconnected porosity of 29 vol.% that allowed a successful thermal debinding and subsequent pre-sintering.

KW - Fused Filament Fabrication

KW - Material Extrusion

KW - highly-filled polymer

KW - solvent debinding

KW - Zirconia

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060736701&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.addma.2019.01.001

DO - 10.1016/j.addma.2019.01.001

M3 - Article

VL - 26.2019

SP - 117

EP - 128

JO - Additive Manufacturing

JF - Additive Manufacturing

SN - 2214-8604

IS - March

ER -