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DESIGN, ASSEMBLY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPOSITE ...

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3.3.8 Fabrication of Complex Ceramic Objects<br />

Complex ceramic objects of BT and HA have been fabricated with the carbon<br />

black ink as fugitive support material. This success confirms the usefulness and<br />

complementing properties of carbon black gel as a fugitive ink for ceramic inks in<br />

Robocasting. Figure 3.11 illustrates the use of carbon black gel as fugitive support<br />

material, and complex ceramic objects enabled by this fugitive material. In Figure 3.11a,<br />

a BT ink was deposited in a non-space filling lattice configuration such that it held a three<br />

dimensional periodicity and had the shape of a cube with empty interior and square holes<br />

in each face of the cube. The carbon black ink is seen to fill the square holes in the side of<br />

the cube. In Figure 3.11b, the green structures had been dried and removed from substrate,<br />

subsequently placed in an alumina crucible and heat-treated at 750 °C in air. A negligible<br />

amount of ash content < 0.1 wt% was observed, which was from non-volatile impurity<br />

introduced into carbon black and polymeric additives during manufacturing. Figure 3.11c<br />

illustrates two pieces of such BT lattice, sintered at 1350 °C in air with a tube furnace<br />

(GSL 1600X, MTI Corporation, Richmond, CA). Figure 3.11d shows a similarly<br />

structured HA lattice sintered at 1150 °C in air with a tube furnace (Thermolyne F21100,<br />

Barnstead International, Dubuque, Iowa). Figure 3.11e shows a periodic BT structure<br />

after burnout of carbon black support material. The rheological properties and sintering<br />

behaviors of BT and HA inks are representative for ceramic inks used in the robocasting<br />

process.<br />

107

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