Selective laser sintering of polymer-coated Al2O3／ZrO2／TiC ceramic powder

A type of polymer-coated Al2O3/ZrO2/TiC ceramic powder was prepared. The laser sintering mechanism of polymer-coated Al2 O3/ZrO2/TiC powder was investigated by studying the dynamic laser sintering process.It is found that the mechanism is viscous flow when the sintering temperature is between 80℃ and 120℃, and it is melting/solidification when the temperature is above 120℃. The process parameters of selective laser sintering were optimized by using ortho-design method. The results show that the optimal parameters include laser power of 14 W,scanning velocity of 1 400 mm/s, preheating temperature of 50℃ and powder depth of 0.15 mm. A two-step posttreatment process is adopted to improve the mechanical properties of laser sintered part, which includes polymer debinding and high temperature sintering. After vacuum sintering for 2 h at 1 650℃, the bending strength and fracture toughness of Al2O3/ZrO2/TiC ceramic part reach 358 MPa and 6.9 MPa·m^1-2, respectively.