3D Printed Ceramics

 3D printing provides a completely new method of fabrication with theadded promise of inexpensive short run production for selected parts. Not quite manufacturing on demand but close enough. Thus researchis concentrating on producing fired products as the next obviousadvance.
A computer generated personalized and glazed cup or dish is anobvious market that may even be partly achievable.
This item gives us a glimpse of the current state of this emergingart.
Could ancientEgyptians hold the key to 3D printed ceramics?
Issue date: 06September 2012 Video: ProfessorStephen Hoskins shares more about the latest 3D printing methods inceramics in this insightful interview.
http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/news.aspx?id=2354
A 7,000 year oldtechnique, known as Egyptian Paste (also known as Faience), couldoffer a potential process and material for use in the latest 3Dprinting techniques of ceramics, according to researchers at UWEBristol.
Professor StephenHoskins, Director of UWE's Centre for Fine Print Research andDavid Huson, Research Fellow, have received funding from the Artsand Humanities Research Council (AHRC to undertake a majorinvestigation into a self-glazing 3D printed ceramic, inspired byancient Egyptian Faience ceramic techniques. The process they aim todevelop would enable ceramic artists, designers and craftspeople toprint 3D objects in a ceramic material which can be glazed andvitrified in one firing.
The researchersbelieve that it possible to create a contemporary 3D printable,once-fired, self-glazing, non-plastic ceramic material that exhibitsthe characteristics and quality of Egyptian Faience.
Faience was first usedin the 5th Millennium BC and was the first glazed ceramicmaterial invented by man. Faience was not made from clay (butinstead composed of quartz and alkali fluxes) and is distinctfrom Italian Faience or Majolica, which is a tin, glazed earthenware.(The earliest Faience is invariably blue or green, exhibiting thefull range of shades between them, and the colouring material wasusually copper). It is the self-glazing properties of Faience thatare of interest for this research project.
Current research inthe field of 3D printing concentrates on creating functionalmaterials to form physical models. The materials currently used inthe 3D printing process, in which layers are added to build up a 3Dform, are commonly: UV polymer resins, hot melted 'abs' plasticand inkjet binder or laser sintered, powder materials. Thesetechniques have previously been known as rapid prototyping (RP). Withthe advent of better materials and equipment some RP of realmaterials is now possible. These processes are increasingly beingreferred to as solid 'free-form fabrication' (SFF) or additive layermanufacture. The UWE research team have focused previously onproducing a functional, printable clay body.
This three-yearresearch project will investigate three methods of glazing used bythe ancient Egyptians: 'application glazing', similar to modernglazing methods; 'efflorescent glazing' which uses water-solublesalts; and 'cementation glazing', a technique where the object isburied in a glazing powder in a protective casing, then fired.These techniques will be used as a basis for developing contemporaryprintable alternatives
Professor Hoskinsexplains, “It is fascinating to think that some of these ancientprocesses, in fact the very first glazed ceramics ever created byhumans, could have relevance to the advanced printing technology oftoday. We hope to create a self-glazing 3D printed ceramic which onlyrequires one firing from conception to completion rather than theusual two. This would be a radical step-forward in the development of3D printing technologies. As part of the project we will undertakecase studies of craft, design and fine art practitioners tocontribute to the project, so that our work reflects the knowledgeand understanding of artists and reflects the way in which artistswork.”
The project includesfunding for a three-year full-time PhD bursary to research a furthermethod used by the Egyptians, investigating coloured 'frit', asubstance used in glazing and enamels. This student will researchthis method, investigating the use of coloured frits and oxides totry and create as full a colour range as possible. Once developed,this body will be used to create a ceramic extrusion paste that canbe printed with a low-cost 3D printer. A programme of work will beundertaken to determine the best rates of deposition, the inclusionof flocculants and methods of drying through heat whilst printing.
This project offersthe theoretical possibility of a printed, single fired, glazedceramic object - something that is impossible with currenttechnology.