15/12/20
Avignon Ceramic produces ceramic parts for foundry, aerospace and energy industries. The company is historically an expert on ceramic injection molding and produces cutting edge parts such as aerospace cores. For 3 years, Avignon Ceramic has been printing parts thanks to ceramic additive manufacturing.
Figure 1: Alumina Gyroid ceramic filters printed thanks to zetamix
In the field of foundry, ceramics are an excellent choice to produce consumable tools, including ceramic filters. Ceramics are the only materials that are both high temperature resistant and chemically stable.
For years, molten metal is filtered by ceramic foams made by impregnating an open cell polymer foam with ceramic slurries. Then, by sintering the ceramic the polymer structure disappears and only the ceramic foam remains.
In order to produce more efficient filters, Avignon ceramic is printing these specific parts thanks to Zetamix Alumina filaments and Raise 3D pro2 3D printer. Zetamix filaments are the first that makes it possible to get ceramic parts with a 99% density by using almost any FDM 3Dprinter.
Indeed, filters cannot be produced by regular industrial shaping processes such as molding or injection because hollow out parts are impossible to obtain with these processes.
Figure 2 : Ceramic foam / Figure 3 : Alumina geometric filters printed thank to Zetamix
While the structure of the foam is randomly obtained in the traditional process, 3D printing allows engineers to design a tailor made hollow out part. A wide range of design and size can be obtained tanks to Zetamix, such as gyroid or geometric designs. Thus, Zetamix technology enables to control the flow of casting and the accuracy of the filtration by varying not only the design, but also the strut size and the pore size of the filter.
“Avignon ceramic has worked in the foundry industry for years. To perfectly meet our clients’ needs and to fully exploit the advantages of 3D printing, we propose only tailor made filters. Because we know that customization is the future of industry and because the production of standard filters is less efficient than personalized one, we early have moved in that direction.” Said Olivier Greck, Innovation and research business manager.
Moreover, the ceramic foam production process can result on really thin and brittle structure, that are likely to break down due to pressure of the molten metal and pollute the final product.
Figure 4 : focus on Alumina gyroid filter design
Zetamix technology is the only FDM 3Dprinting solution that enables engineers and technicians to create tailor made ceramic parts. By providing ceramic filament, Nanoe teams aim at making ceramic 3D printing easy and accessible to every company, whether it be SME or large international group.
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