3D printing using ceramic powder to produce precision ceramic parts has been studied with various additive manufacturing methods. This study analyzed problems occurring in alumina additive manufacturing that uses digital light processing (DLP) as well as methods to address such problems. For efficient analysis, we have classified alumina additive manufacturing into three types according to the driving method of the build platform - lifting type (LT), tilting type (TT) of the vat, and blade movement type (BT). LT had a problem with detachment and cracking of the alumina green body. However, this could be prevented by carefully controlling the cure depth of the suspension slurry and the bonding force between layers and improving the material used for coating the vat. TT, which resulted in non-uniform alumina additive manufacturing, could be improved by modifying the bidirectionality of the axis and the fluidity of the highly viscous alumina suspension slurry. BT resulted in detachment of the specimen as well as non-uniform results, but this could be avoided by shortening the shifting distance of the alumina suspension when it is introduced to the build platform, and enabling effective spreading.
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.