Stereolithography-based additive manufacturing of lithium disilicate glass ceramic for dental applications

doi:10.1016/j.msec.2020.111180

Materials Science and Engineering: C

Volume 116, November 2020, 111180

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msec.2020.111180 Get rights and content

Highlights

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Lithium disilicate glass ceramic can be reproducibly printed, debinded and sintered.
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Stereolithography provides highest resolution of 25 μm and accuracy of 50 μm.
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Particle size distribution influences rheology and reliability of printing process.
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Optimized printing and post processing leads to high densities of over 99.9%.
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Sintered parts achieve over 350 MPa bending strength and K_IC of 2.9 MPa m^0.5.

Abstract

With additive manufacturing (AM) on the rise in industrial production, different industries are looking for a way to benefit from the advantages over conventional manufacturing methods like milling or casting. The layer by layer approach allows the parallel construction of different complex structures with simultaneous customization of the parts, while waste material is significantly reduced. This is especially interesting for the processing of advanced ceramic materials, where often customized and single parts are required. Regarding ceramics, Lithographic Ceramic Manufacturing (LCM) provides the highest surface quality and achievable precision compared to any other AM technologies, which is necessary to meet the high demands from dental industry regarding accuracy and reproducibility. At TU Wien, we achieved expertise in printing different kinds of ceramics and glasses by using specially developed stereolithography printers based on digital light processing (DLP) followed by a thermal debinding and sintering processes. In dental industry, glass ceramic materials are widely used for customized and aesthetic restorations. This work deals with the processing of lithium disilicate via an AM technology, offering highly dense (>99%), full ceramic parts which meet the requirements for the use as dental restorations. With outstanding mechanical properties of over 400 MPa flexural strength, excellent translucency and accuracy, veneers, crowns and even bridges, especially for the anterior tooth area can be reproducibly printed, debinded and sintered.

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Sonja Baumgartner was born in Vienna. She studied Industrial and later Mechanical Engineering at TU Wien from 2009 to 2015. During her master thesis, she joined the Institute of Materials Science and Technology where she started her work on additive manufacturing. Dr. Baumgartner continued her research within her PhD studies on lithographic manufacturing of ceramics, composites and polymers. Today, she is a Postdoc in the group of Prof. Stampfl and focuses on material development for additive manufacturing and innovative combinations of printing technologies.

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