A latest development could have huge benefits for aviation. A US laboratory has started printing high-temperature, high-strength 3D ceramic parts. A company in California, HRL Laboratories has utilized a resin that is 3D printed in the required size and shape. They fired it with a motive to convert it into a ceramic, capable of withstanding temperatures up to 1,700 degrees Celsius while maintaining crucial strength.

HRL Sensors and Materials Laboratory senior scientist Dr. Tobias Schaedler explained, “Our team surmounted the challenges inherent in ceramics to develop an innovative material that has myriad applications in variety of industries. The resulting material can withstand ultrahigh temperatures in excess of 1700°C and exhibits strength 10 times higher than similar materials”.

While explaining that earlier ceramics were created by sintering, which is compacting and changing a substance into a solid without reaching its melting point, Schaedler said ceramics are very difficult to process as compared to polymers or metals as they can’t be cast or machined easily. Thus, it restricts the shapes that can be achieved, give way to pores in the final product and has an impact on the strength. The sintering process results into brittle final products that can’t hold up well to machining.

Meanwhile, the process of 3D printing deposits layers of the printing material, which was earlier not sufficiently resistant for high-temperature and high-strength applications.