LAUSR

ABSTRACT Binder-jetting, an additive manufacturing process and relatively low-cost technology is utilized to deposit complex-shaped thin ceramic cores. In this study, for enhancing sintering quality, a decomposable binder was prepared using binder-jetting by dispersing different contents of zirconium basic carbonate (ZBC) into an inorganic colloidal binder. The effects of different ZBC contents on the printability of the binder and the performance characteristics of the ceramic cores by binder-jetting were investigated. The results show that the surface tension of the binder decreases with the increasing of ZBC contents, indicating that the addition of ZBC particles perturbs the interaction between water molecules. The presence of newly generated ZrO2 particles decomposed by ZBC demonstrated a significant effect on the mechanical properties of the ceramic cores. The sintered density increased by about 44%, the bending strength improved from 60 to 79 MPa, and linear shrinkage decreased from 20 to 13% after sintering at 1500 °C as the ZBC content was increased from 0 to 35 wt%.