Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol.102, No.6, 3244-3255, 2019
First printing of continuous fibers into ceramics
This article reports a novel method for three-dimensional (3D) printing of continuous fibers into ceramics to improve the mechanical properties of printed ceramics, which is difficult in other 3D printing technologies. The ceramics were derived by pyrolysis of thermoplastic ceramic precursor feedstocks, which were prepared by two methods. One is homogeneously mixing thermoplastic resins and ceramic precursors. The feedstocks prepared by this method exhibit good thermoplastic properties and can be extruded into filaments. Ceramics were obtained by heating the feedstocks to 1100 degrees C in argon atmosphere. The ceramics were amorphous and remained stable during 1100-1300 degrees C; at 1400 degrees C they decomposed into -SiC with simultaneous volatile gas generation. Above 1400 degrees C, their quality decreased significantly due to cracking of ceramic skeletons. The other method is directly heating, extruding and printing the ceramic precursor. The precursors showed good printability and complex ceramic structures were printed with continuous carbon fibers inside. The continuous carbon fibers improved the flexural strength of pyrolytic ceramics, which is about 7.6 times better than that of the ceramics without fibers. The novel method unravels the potential of 3D printing of continuous fibers into ceramics with complex lightweight structures to improve the strength.