Mechanical testing of rapid-prototyping refractory ceramic print media

• Main Author: Martin, Rachel (Rachel M.)
• Other Authors: Samuel M. Allen and James F. Bredt.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2014
• Subjects: Materials Science and Engineering.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/86278

Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, February 2013. === Page 30 blank. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. === Includes bibliographical references. === Additively manufactured (3D-printed) refractory alumina-silica ceramics were mechanically tested to ascertain their ultimate tensile strengths and observed to determine their dimensional consistency over the printing and post-printing process. The equipment used to perform tensile testing was designed and built for use with custom-designed tensile test samples. Two ceramic powders, V18 (electronic-grade alumina, colloidal silica, and organic content) and 403C (200-mesh mullite, organic content, and magnesium oxide), were printed into test samples on ZCorporation ZPrinter® 310 and 510 machines, before being infiltrated with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEaS), and in some cases infiltrated again with a 40% by weight suspension of silica in water (Ludox). Ludox-infiltrated V18 proved to be the strongest medium, with a UTS of 4.539 ± 1.008 MPa; non-Ludox-infiltrated V18 had a UTS of 2.071 ± 0.443 MPA; Ludox-infiltrated 403C was weakest with a UTS of 1.378 ± 0.526 MPa. Within V18, greater silica content lead to greater tensile strength, but this did not hold true for 403C. 403C displayed volumetric shrinkage of about 1.5%, while V18's volumetric shrinkage ranged from 7% to 14%. === by Rachel Martin. === S.B.