HighTech solutions for ceramic 3D printing - topology optimization suitable for ceramics enables required mechanical properties with minimal use of resources.


Our process technology reliably delivers 3D printed bodies with the desired mechanical properties with minimal use of resources, taking into account the ceramic properties and the specifics of ceramic 3D printing.

What does optimizing for ceramics mean?

Ceramic is a brittle, non-ductile material with anisotropies in the printing direction, a very good load capacity in compression but a poor load capacity in tension.  Optimizing for ceramics thus means including Weibull statistics with anisotropic Weibull modulus as a failure criterion, optimizing for load in compression rather than tension, using the normal stress hypothesis as a measure of stress, integrating surface effects that can lead to failure, and including consideration of the minimum web thickness in the compression process.

All these criteria must be taken into account during optimization. This is the only way to ensure that the topology optimization delivers a design of the 3D printed body that is suitable for the ceramic.

The result is an optimally designed 3D printed body with the required mechanical properties using a minimum amount of material.

The following pictures show applications of our process technology.



Click on the respective image to see an enlarged view.



The right image shows a SIMP-optimized pedestal under area load with restricted support points at a material reduction of 15% and demonstrates the advantages of optimization for material reduction.  The middle image shows the topology optimization of an MBB beam using conventional optimization methods. In conventional optimization, the ceramic-specific properties are not taken into account, in particular the requirement that ceramics should be loaded in compression and not in tension. The difference to ceramic-specific optimization is clearly shown in the right image. In the case of ceramic-specific topology optimization (right image), it is clearly evident that the areas that are loaded in tension are significantly strengthened and the areas that are loaded in compression are significantly slimmer compared to conventional optimization (middle image).



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