Binder Removal from Ceramic Stereolithography Green Bodies: A Neutron Imaging and Thermal Analysis Study

Published

March 16, 2023

Author(s)

Eoin McAleer, M Alazzawi, C Hwang, Jacob LaManna, David Jacobson, R.A. Haber, E. Koray Akdogan

Abstract

Stereolithography of ceramics remains one of the most powerful additive manufacturing routes for the creation of intricate ceramic parts. Despites its strength as a forming tool, ceramic stereolithography requires a challenging debinding stage due to the requisite high polymeric loading. Previous research has identified both the polymeric resin composition and debinding atmosphere to be crucial factors in improving debinding performance. Here, we use a combination of thermogravimetric analysis and neutron imaging to examine the influence of both polyethylene glycol addition and the use of argon and vacuum atmospheres on the debinding behavior of ceramic pellets. Specifically, we develop a method for examining the concentration gradients that develop during thermal debinding with the aid of neutron tomography. We find that at a constant heating rate of 1 °C/min up to 500 °C, vacuum atmosphere appears to result in a greater number of cracks as compared to the use of argon. Vacuum atmosphere led to the development of lower concentration gradients in the samples on average. The greatest improvement resulted with the addition of polyethylene glycol to the samples. This addition led to significantly less cracking and much lower concentration gradients in samples during debinding. These results prompt us to conclude that composition modification has the more significant effect on the debinding improvement.

Citation

Journal of the American Ceramic Society

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Ceramic processing, binder removal

Citation

McAleer, E. , Alazzawi, M. , Hwang, C. , LaManna, J. , Jacobson, D. , Haber, R. and Akdogan, E. (2023), Binder Removal from Ceramic Stereolithography Green Bodies: A Neutron Imaging and Thermal Analysis Study, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=935697 (Accessed April 30, 2025)