Effect of forming strategy on surface morphology and properties of zirconia ceramics formed by laser powder bed fusion

This paper investigates the effects of different forming processes on the surface morphology and dimensional accuracy of zirconia ceramics, and selects the optimal forming process for mechanical property analysis. A laboratory-built ceramic laser 3D printer was used to carry out the forming experiments on the specimens. Under the condition that only the forming process of the experimental target is changed, the effects of powder layering process, scanning spacing and scanning strategy on the surface morphology and properties of zirconia ceramics are investigated. The use of two powder spreading and scanning forming processes in the sample forming process effectively improved the forming defects of zirconia ceramics caused by powder splattering, and the zirconia ceramics had a better forming effect. Under this condition, the dimensional accuracy of the specimens increases and then decreases with the decrease of the scanning spacing, where the highest dimensional accuracy is obtained when the scanning spacing is 0.158 mm; among different scanning strategies, the best surface morphology is obtained by forming specimens with the island scanning strategy. In addition, the mechanical properties of the ceramics formed from zirconia showed that the Young's modulus and Vickers hardness of the samples increased by approximately 53.6 % and 15.7 %, respectively, compared to the traditional forming process.