Abstract

Transparent magnesium aluminate spinel ceramics were additively manufactured via a laser direct deposition method in this study. With a minimum porosity of 0.3% achieved, highly transparent spinel samples with the highest total optical transmittance of 82% at a wavelength of 632.8 nm, were obtained by a 3D printing approach. However, cracking was found to be a major issue affecting printed spinel samples. To control prevalent cracking, the effect of silica dopants was investigated. Increased silica dopants reduced average total crack length by up to 79% and average crack density by up to 71%. However, a high dopant level limited optical transmission, attributed to increased porosity and formation of secondary phase. Further investigation found that with decreased average fracture toughness, from 2.4 MPa·m1/2 to 1.9 MPa·m1/2, the obvious reduction in crack formation after doping was related to decreased grain size and introduction of softer secondary phase during deposition. The study demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed laser direct deposition method in directly fabricating transparent spinel ceramics while dopants showed potentials in addressing cracking issues.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Research Center/Lab(s)

Intelligent Systems Center

Keywords and Phrases

Additive manufacturing; Laser direct deposition; Magnesium aluminate spinel; Silica doping; Transparent ceramics

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1996-1944

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2020 The Authors, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Nov 2020

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