2020 Volume 57 Issue 10 Pages 520-525
Material extrusion is an additive manufacturing process that generates a three-dimensional molded product via extrusion and lamination of a plastic material. In this study, we prepared zirconia filaments, which were composites of 3Y-ZrO2 powder and thermoplastic resins. Then, we investigated the influence of the filament fluidity and molding conditions on the voids generated at the bonded interface due to poor bonding of the extruded materials. Using a filament excelling in fluidity reduced the nozzle temperature, and molding could be carried out with reduced combustion of the binder resin. Hence, the void diameters of the molded bodies were reduced to 10 μm or lesser with the nozzle temperature of 138°C and layer thickness of 100 μm, and 97–98% relative densities of the sintered bodies were indicated.
