Co-printing of silicon carbide components using vibration assisted printing and fused filament fabrication

Many applications can benefit from ceramics that have high-temperature stability and oxidation resistance with enhanced thermal diffusivity and low weight. Additive manufacturing (AM) has the potential to produce tailored ceramics, but current AM methods rely on precursors that undergo significant shrinkage and suffer from design limitations on feature sizes. The mixtures of ceramic powders with preceramic polymers can minimize these effects and produce net-shape high-density parts. Vibration assisted printing (VAP) has been used with mixtures of up to 84 wt% (62 vol%) silicon carbide (SiC) powders and a polycarbosilane polymer that forms pure SiC upon pyrolysis. A dual-head VAP-fused filament fabrication system was used with water-soluble filaments for the outer walls that support the ceramic forming infill. The pyrolyzed net-shape SiC parts retained their original dimensions due particle contact and had a final porosity of 25 vol% due to the densification of the polycarbosilane, demonstrating the viability of this approach. Graphical abstract