Strengthening three-dimensional printed ultra-light ceramic lattices

Ceramic is a typical brittle-essence material, which makes the low strength a fatal problem for ultra-light ceramic lattices with ultra-high porosity. In this study, ultra-light ceramic lattices with calculated density of ca. 0.8 g/cm³ and porosity up to ca. 80% reaching maximum compressive strength of 107 MPa were successfully printed by a three-dimensional (3D) printing technology stereolithography. Ultra-high-specific strength of the printed ceramic lattices (32 N·m/g) was even much higher than that of the steel lattices (2 N·m/g) (Int J Mach Tool Manuf, 62, 2012, 32). Short-cut quartz fibers and in situ growing Si₃N₄ whiskers were introduced as reinforcements to improve the strength of the printed lattices. Compressive strengths of the ceramic lattices improved by 2.8 and 3.6 times stronger than the originals, respectively. Significantly, energy absorption of the ceramic lattices under compression reached over 10 times larger than before. In comparison with the originals, micronano reinforcements significantly improved the compressive properties of the lattices with microsupporting structures and network formed in internal pores while maintaining the ultra-light structure.