This study investigates the effect of the microstructure of Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3 (LATP), a solid electrolyte, on its ionic conductivity. Solid electrolytes, a key component in electrochemical energy storage devices such as batteries, differ from traditional liquid electrolytes by utilizing solid-state ionic conductors. LATP, characterized by its NASICON structure, facilitates rapid lithium-ion movement and exhibits relatively high ionic conductivity, chemical stability, and good electrochemical compatibility. In this study, the microstructure and ionic conductivity of LATP specimens sintered at 850, 900, and 950oC for various sintering times are analyzed. The results indicate that the changes in the microstructure due to sintering temperature and time significantly affect ionic conductivity. Notably, the specimens sintered at 900oC for 30 min exhibit high ionic conductivity. This study presents a method to optimize the ionic conductivity of LATP. Additionally, it underscores the need for a deeper understanding of the Li-ion diffusion mechanism and quantitative microstructure analysis.

The 3D printing process provides a higher degree of freedom when designing ceramic parts than the conventional press forming process. However, the generation and growth of the microcracks induced during heat treatment is thought to be due to the occurrence of local tensile stress caused by the thermal decomposition of the binder inside the green body. In this study, an alumina columnar specimen, which is a representative ceramic material, is fabricated using the digital light process (DLP) 3D printing method. DTG analysis is performed to investigate the cause of the occurrence of microcracks by analyzing the debinding process in which microcracks are mainly generated. HDDA of epoxy acrylates, which is the main binder, rapidly debinded in the range of 200 to 500oC, and microcracks are observed because of real-time microscopic image observation. For mitigating the rapid debinding process of HDDA, other types of acrylates PETA, PUA, and MMA are added, and the effect of these additives on the debinding rate is investigated. By analyzing the DTG in the 25 to 300oC region, it is confirmed that the PETA monomer and the PUA monomer can suppress the rapid decomposition rate of HDDA in this temperature range.

In the development of advanced ceramic tools, material improvements and design freedom are critical in improving tool performance. However, in the die press molding method, many factors limit tool design and make it difficult to develop innovative advanced tools. Ceramic 3D printing facilitates the production of prototype samples for advanced tool development and the creation of complex tooling products. Furthermore, it is possible to respond to mass production requirements by reflecting the needs of the tool industry, which can be characterized by small quantities of various products. However, many problems remain in ensuring the reliability of ceramic tools for industrial use. In this study, alumina inserts, a representative ceramic tool, was manufactured using the digital light process (DLP), a 3D printing method. Alumina inserts prepared by 3D printing are pressurelessly sintered under the same conditions as coupon-type specimens prepared by press molding. After sintering, a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treatment is performed to investigate the effects of relative density and microstructure changes on hardness and fracture toughness. Alumina inserts prepared by 3D printing show lower relative densities than coupon specimens prepared by powder molding but indicate similar hardness and higher fracture toughness values.

In this study, a process is developed for 3D printing with alumina (Al2O3). First, a photocurable slurry made from nanoparticle Al2O3 powder is mixed with hexanediol diacrylate binder and phenylbis(2,4,6- trimethylbenzoyl) phosphine oxide photoinitiator. The optimum solid content of Al2O3 is determined by measuring the rheological properties of the slurry. Then, green bodies of Al2O3 with different photoinitiator contents and UV exposure times are fabricated with a digital light processing (DLP) 3D printer. The dimensional accuracy of the printed Al2O3 green bodies and the number of defects are evaluated by carefully measuring the samples and imaging them with a scanning electron microscope. The optimum photoinitiator content and exposure time are 0.5 wt% and 0.8 s, respectively. These results show that Al2O3 products of various sizes and shapes can be fabricated by DLP 3D printing.

SiAlON-based ceramics are some of the most typical ceramic materials used as cutting tools for HRSA(Heat Resistant Super-Alloys). SiAlON can be fabricated using ceramic processing, such as mixing, granulation, compaction, and sintering. Spray drying is a widely-used method for producing a granular powder of controlled morphology and size with flowability. In this study, we report a systematic investigation aimed at optimizing spherical granule morphology by controlling spray-drying parameters such as gas flow and feed rate. Before spray drying, the viscosities of the raw material slurries were also optimized with the amount of dispersant added.

Reaction-bonded silicon carbide (RBSC) is a SiC-based composite ceramic fabricated by the infiltration of molten silicon into a skeleton of SiC particles and carbon, in order to manufacture a ceramic body with full density. RBSC has been widely used and studied for many years in the SiC field, because of its relatively low processing temperature for fabrication, easy use in forming components with a near-net shape, and high density, compared with other sintering methods for SiC. A radiant tube is one of the most commonly employed ceramics components when using RBSC materials in industrial fields. In this study, the mechanical strengths of commercial RBSC tubes with different sizes are evaluated using 3-point flexural and C-ring tests. The size scaling law is applied to the obtained mechanical strength values for specimens with different sizes. The discrepancy between the flexural and C-ring strengths is also discussed.

SiC-based composite materials with light weight, high durability, and high-temperature stability have been actively studied for use in aerospace and defense applications. Moreover, environmental barrier coating (EBC) technologies using oxide-based ceramic materials have been studied to prevent chemical deterioration at a high temperature of 1300℃ or higher. In this study, an ytterbium silicate material, which has recently been actively studied as an environmental barrier coating because of its high-temperature chemical stability, is fabricated on a sintered SiC substrate. Yb2O3 and SiO2 are used as the raw starting materials to form ytterbium disilicate (Yb2Si2O7). Suspension plasma spraying is applied as the coating method. The effect of the mixing method on the particle size and distribution, which affect the coating formation behavior, is investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. It is found that the originally designed compounds are not effectively formed because of the refinement and vaporization of the raw material particles, i.e., SiO2, and the formation of a porous coating structure. By changing the coating parameters such as the deposition distance, it is found that a denser coating structure can be formed at a closer deposition distance.

SiAlON-based ceramics are some of the most typical oxynitride ceramic materials, which can be used as cutting tools for heat-resistant super-alloys (HRSA). SiAlON can be fabricated by using gas-pressure reactive sintering from the raw materials, nitrides and oxides such as Si3N4, AlN, Al2O3, and Yb2O3. In this study, we fabricate Ybm/3Si12-(m+n)Alm+nOnN16-n (m=0.3, n=1.9, 2.3, 2.7) ceramics by using gas-pressure sintering at different sintering temperatures. Then, the densification behavior, phase formation, microstructure, and hardness of the sintered specimens are characterized. We obtain a fully densified specimen with β- SiAlON after gas-pressure sintering at 1820℃ for 90 min. under 10 atm N2 pressure. These SiAlON ceramic materials exhibited hardness values of ~92.9 HRA. The potential of these SiAlON ceramics for cutting tool application is also discussed.

A thick film of Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) solid-state electrolyte is fabricated using the tape casting process and is compared to a bulk specimen in terms of the density, microstructure, and ion conductivity. The final thickness of LLZO film after sintering is 240 μm which is stacked up with four sheets of LLZO green films including polymeric binders. The relative density of the LLZO film is 83%, which is almost the same as that of the bulk specimen. The ion conductivity of a LLZO thick film is 2.81 × 10−4 S/cm, which is also similar to that of the bulk specimen, 2.54 × 10−4 S/ cm. However, the microstructure shows a large difference in the grain size between the thick film and the bulk specimen. Although the grain boundary area is different between the thick film and the bulk specimen, the fact that both the ion conductivities are very similar means that no secondary phase exists at the grain boundary, which is thought to originate from nonstoichiometry or contamination.

Porous thick film of alumina which is fabricated by freeze tape casting using a camphene-camphor-acrylate vehicle. Alumina slurry is mixed above the melting point of the camphene-camphor solvent. Upon cooling, the camphene- camphor crystallizes from the solution as particle-free dendrites, with the Al2O3 powder and acrylate liquid in the interdendritic spaces. Subsequently, the acrylate liquid is solidified by photopolymerization to offer mechanical properties for handling. The microstructure of the porous alumina film is characterized for systems with different cooling rate around the melting temperature of camphor-camphene. The structure of the dendritic porosity is compared as a function of ratio of camphene-camphor solvent and acrylate content, and Al2O3 powder volume fraction in acrylate in terms of the dendrite arm width.

RBSC (reaction-bonded silicon carbide) represents a family of composite ceramics processed by infiltrating with molten silicon into a skeleton of SiC particles and carbon in order to fabricate a fully dense body of silicon carbide. RBSC has been commercially used and widely studied for many years, because of its advantages, such as relatively low temperature for fabrication and easier to form components with near-net-shape and high relative density, compared with other sintering methods. In this study, RBSC was fabricated with different size of SiC in the raw material. Microstructure, thermal and mechanical properties were characterized with the reaction-sintered samples in order to examine the effect of SiC size on the thermal and mechanical properties of RBSC ceramics. Especially, phase volume fraction of each component phase, such as Si, SiC, and C, was evaluated by using an image analyzer. The relationship between microstructures and physical properties was also discussed.

W-10vol.%ZrC composites reinforced by micrometric and nanosized ZrC particles were prepared by hot-pressing of 25 MPa for 2 h at 1900˚C. The effect of ZrC particle size on microstructure and mechanical properties at room temperature and elevated temperatures was investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope observations and the flexural strength test of the W-ZrC composite. Microstructural analysis of the W-ZrC composite revealed that nanosized ZrC particles were homogeneously dispersed in the W matrix inhibiting W grain growth compared to W specimen with micrometric ZrC particle. As a result, its flexural strength was significantly improved. The flexural strength at room temperature for W-ZrC composite using nanosized ZrC particle being 740 MPa increased by around 2 times than that of specimen using micrometric ZrC particle which was 377 MPa. The maximum strength of 935 MPa was tested at 1200˚C on the W composite specimen containing nanosized ZrC particle.