Soshu Kirihara
In stereolithographic additive manufacturing, 2-D cross sections were created through photo polymerization by UV laser drawing on spread resin paste including ceramic nanoparticles, and 3-D models were sterically printed by layer lamination. The lithography system has been developed to obtain bulky ceramic components with functional geometries. An automatic collimeter was newly equipped with the laser scanner to adjust beam diameter. Fine or coarse beams could realize high resolution or wide area drawings, respectively. As the row material of the 3-D printing, nanometer sized ceramic particles were dispersed in to acrylic liquid resins at 60 % in volume fraction. These materials were mixed and deformed to obtained thixotropic slurry. The resin paste was spread on a glass substrate at 50 μm in layer thickness by a mechanically moved knife edge. An ultraviolet laser beam of 355 nm in wavelength was adjusted at 50 μm in variable diameter and scanned on the spread resin surface. Irradiation power was changed automatically for enough solidification depth for layer bonding. The composite precursors including nanoparticles were dewaxed and sintered in the air atmosphere. In the recent investigation, through the computer aided smart manufacturing, design and evaluation (Smart MADE), zilconia dental crowns with fine ceramic microstrutures were fabricated for biological implants. Subsequently, lithium-lanthanum-titanate sheets with micro emboss patterns were processed for all-solid batteries.