Additive Manufacturing of Ceramics using Preceramic Polymers

Preceramic polymers are precursors for ceramic phases of different composition. They convert by high temperature pyrolysis into nano-structured ceramic materials in the system Si(X)OCN (with X = B, Al, Ti, Zr, etc.), also called PDCs or Polymer-Derived-Ceramics. The resulting materials can have useful structural and functional properties.

This talk will discuss the fabrication of (mainly) porous structures starting from pure preceramic polymers (e.g. silicone resins) or preceramic polymers plus reactive fillers to produce advanced silicate ceramic phases, including bioceramics and Ceramic Matrix Composites, suitable for various potential applications.

Different types of additive manufacturing techniques were employed, in particular: a) printing by vat photopolymerization (DLP); b) printing with sub-micron resolution by 2 photon polymerization (TPP); c) printing by a novel linear volumetric technology; d) printing by ink extrusion (DIW); e) printing by fused deposition modeling (FDM); f) printing by powder bed binder jetting (BJ). Advantages and disadvantages of the different processing techniques employed, in relation to the use of preceramic polymers, will be discussed, and examples of produced and characterized structures for potential use in different applications will be presented.