Additive manufacturing of Al2O3 with engineered interlayers and high toughness through multi-material co-extrusion

Zhou, Shitong; Cai, Qiaosong; Tirichenko, Iuliia S; Vilchez, Victoria; Gavalda-Diaz, Oriol; Bouville, Florian; Saiz, Eduardo

Abstract

The additive manufacturing of ceramic composites with tailored microstructures is still challenging and time-consuming. However, there is great interest as it may enable the implementation of novel materials architectures following computer designs. In this work, we demonstrate a straightforward method to obtain ceramics with a network of continuous weak interlayers designed to increase fracture resistance using alumina as a model system. This is achieved by combining direct ink writing with the coextrusion of multi-material pastes with carefully matched rheology based on thermally reversible hydrogels and inorganic powders. The printed Al2O3 bars with and without weak interlayers exhibit strengths ranging between 180 and 360 MPa and KIC ∼ 3 MPa∙m1/2. The introduction of weak interlayers using different raster patterns, such as length wise and Bouligand alignments can be used to direct crack propagation and promote gradual failure. The result is an improvement in the fracture energy up to 230 J/m2 and KJ up to 9 MPa·m1/2. These results suggest the potential of manufacturing ceramics with enhanced mechanical properties by using robocasting with multi-material inks to engineer complex interlayer networks.

Citation

Zhou, S., Cai, Q., Tirichenko, I. S., Vilchez, V., Gavalda-Diaz, O., Bouville, F., & Saiz, E. (2023). Additive manufacturing of Al2O3 with engineered interlayers and high toughness through multi-material co-extrusion. Acta Materialia, 246, Article 118704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.118704

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 12, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Feb 1, 2023
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 12, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 16, 2023
• Journal: Acta Materialia
• Print ISSN: 1359-6454
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-2453
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 246
• Article Number: 118704
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.118704
• Keywords: Metals and Alloys; Polymers and Plastics; Ceramics and Composites; Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/17071521
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359645423000368?via%3Dihub
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Additive manufacturing of Al2O3 with engineered interlayers and high toughness through multi-material co-extrusion; Journal Title: Acta Materialia; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.118704; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc.