Ceramics

This chapter deals with the additive manufacturing (AM) techniques utilized to produce technical ceramics. We then exclude those ceramics utilized for building, sanitary ware, art, and thermal insulation. The chapter starts with a description of the technical ceramics to date available for AM, their main characteristics, and applications. Among the printing techniques, described elsewhere in this handbook, we then refer to those ones that are currently utilized to produce technical ceramic artifacts. Since many of the methods hereunder described are meant to produce a green body, we also illustrate the thermal treatments, which are necessary to convert the 3D-printed polymer-bound ceramics into full ceramics. In this sense, a detailed description on how to disperse and mix ceramic powders with polymeric binders in liquid and gaseous media is given. The state-of-the-art techniques adopted to assure the quality of the printed parts are also reported. The chapter ends with a description of the so-called hybrid additive manufacturing methods that are highly promising.