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Journal of Advanced Ceramics 2020, 9(2): 220-231 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40145-020-0362-0
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 07 April 2020

Effect of sintering temperature in argon atmosphere on microstructure and properties of 3D printed alumina ceramic cores

Show Author's Information He LIa,b,  Yongsheng LIUa,b( ),  Yansong LIUa,b,  Qingfeng ZENGa( ),  Kehui HUc,d,  Zhigang LUc,d,  Jingjing LIANGe
Science and Technology on Thermostructural Composite Materials Laboratory, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, China
NPU-SAS Joint Research Center of Advanced Ceramics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, China
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
Keywords:
microstructure, sintering temperature, argon atmosphere, alumina ceramics, stereolithography
Cite this article:
LI H, LIU Y, LIU Y, et al. Effect of sintering temperature in argon atmosphere on microstructure and properties of 3D printed alumina ceramic cores. Journal of Advanced Ceramics, 2020, 9(2): 220-231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40145-020-0362-0
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Abstract Full text About this article

Alumina ceramics with different sintering temperatures in argon atmosphere were obtained using stereolithography-based 3D printing. The effects of sintering temperature on microstructure and physical and mechanical properties were investigated. The results show that the average particle size, shrinkage, bulk density, crystallite size, flexural strength, Vickers hardness, and nanoindentation hardness increased with the increase in sintering temperature, whereas the open porosity decreased with increasing sintering temperature. No change was observed in phase composition, chemical bond, atomic ratio, and surface roughness. For the sintered samples, the shrinkage in Z direction is much greater than that in X or Y direction. The optimum sintering temperature in argon atmosphere is 1350 ℃ with a shrinkage of 3.0%, 3.2%, and 5.5% in X, Y, and Z directions, respectively, flexural strength of 26.7 MPa, Vickers hardness of 198.5 HV, nanoindentation hardness of 33.1 GPa, bulk density of 2.5 g/cm3, and open porosity of 33.8%. The optimum sintering temperature was 70 ℃ higher than that sintering in air atmosphere when achieved the similar properties.


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About this article

Effect of sintering temperature in argon atmosphere on microstructure and properties of 3D printed alumina ceramic cores

Show Author's information He LIa,b, Yongsheng LIUa,b( ), Yansong LIUa,b, Qingfeng ZENGa( ), Kehui HUc,d, Zhigang LUc,d, Jingjing LIANGe
Science and Technology on Thermostructural Composite Materials Laboratory, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, China
NPU-SAS Joint Research Center of Advanced Ceramics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, China
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China

Abstract

Alumina ceramics with different sintering temperatures in argon atmosphere were obtained using stereolithography-based 3D printing. The effects of sintering temperature on microstructure and physical and mechanical properties were investigated. The results show that the average particle size, shrinkage, bulk density, crystallite size, flexural strength, Vickers hardness, and nanoindentation hardness increased with the increase in sintering temperature, whereas the open porosity decreased with increasing sintering temperature. No change was observed in phase composition, chemical bond, atomic ratio, and surface roughness. For the sintered samples, the shrinkage in Z direction is much greater than that in X or Y direction. The optimum sintering temperature in argon atmosphere is 1350 ℃ with a shrinkage of 3.0%, 3.2%, and 5.5% in X, Y, and Z directions, respectively, flexural strength of 26.7 MPa, Vickers hardness of 198.5 HV, nanoindentation hardness of 33.1 GPa, bulk density of 2.5 g/cm3, and open porosity of 33.8%. The optimum sintering temperature was 70 ℃ higher than that sintering in air atmosphere when achieved the similar properties.

Keywords: microstructure, sintering temperature, argon atmosphere, alumina ceramics, stereolithography

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Publication history

Received: 07 December 2019
Revised: 07 January 2020
Accepted: 14 January 2020
Published: 07 April 2020
Issue date: April 2020

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© The author(s) 2020

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Key R & D Program of China (No. 2018YFB1106600), and the Chinese National Foundation for Natural Sciences under Contracts (No. 51672217).

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