Mar 10, 2017 | By Benedict

3Dceram, a 3D printed ceramics specialist based in Limoges, France, has signed a three-year collaboration agreement with the Science of Ceramic Processes and Surface Treatments (SPCTS) research unit to develop ceramic 3D printing technologies. 3Dceram first worked with the SPCTS in 2010.

3D printing offers a new way of producing ceramic products

3D printed ceramics might be one of the more niche applications of additive manufacturing, but it is nonetheless an area ripe for investment and development. Far more than a means of making pottery and tea sets, ceramic 3D printing technology offers manufacturers a new and efficient means of producing items like gas burner nozzles, biomedical implants, and even construction materials.

With that huge potential in mind, Limoges-based 3D printed ceramics company 3Dceram has renewed a partnership with the SPCTS, a French research unit associated with the French National Research Council (CNRS) that includes staff from the University of Limoges and the National Engineering College for Industrial Ceramics (ENSCI).

In a press release put out yesterday, 3Dceram announced that it had agreed a three-year collaboration agreement with the SPCTS to “jointly tackle issues relating to additive manufacturing and to plan for the future of 3D ceramic printing,” renewing a partnership that was first agreed upon back in 2010. That initial partnership was forged by Thierry Chartier, a CNRS Research supervisor and stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing specialist.

According to the two parties, this latest continuation of the partnership will lay the foundations for the joint development of ceramic 3D printing materials and processes, as well as the filing of shared patents. Meanwhile, the collaboration will look to sustain the SPCTS’s unique expertise in the industrialization of SLA-type 3D printing processes while supporting a “booming” market for such technologies.

3Dceram is developing a Stereolithography-style 3D printing process for 3D printed ceramics

3Dceram says that previous research undertaken by Chartier has made a significant contribution to the development of ceramic 3D printing technology, which 3Dceram has since turned into an on-demand ceramics production service. The additive manufacturing technology allows users to fabricate ceramic objects in highly complex geometric shapes.

Over the next three years, 3Dceram and the SPCTS will develop new ceramic 3D printing formulations to suit specific manufacturing needs. Added to existing materials such as aluminum oxide, zirconium dioxide, and hydroxylapatite will be made-to-measure formulations tailored to an individual design brief.

The SPCTS research unit has around 100 permanent staff divided across four main teams: Ceramic processes, Plasmas and Lasers Processes, Multi-scale structural analysis of materials, and Ceramics under environmental conditions.

Since the start of the year, both Nano Dimension and Formlabs have announced plans to develop ceramic 3D printing processes and materials.

Posted in 3D Printing Technology

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