3D printing from ceramics still remains a niche topic, but every year it is arousing more and more interest. Interestingly, additive manufacturing from ceramics has many faces – attempts have already been made to use powder methods, extrusion of material through the printhead as in the case of FDM technology, as well as curing resin with the addition of light ceramic particles.
The company that commercialized 3D printing technology through resin curing was Austrian Lithoz, founded in 2011 as a spin-off of the Technical University in Vienna. Lithoz currently sells advanced printing systems in LCM (Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing) technology, i.e. DLP with ceramic particles suspended in resin. The company also offers a range of ceramic materials for its printers: alumina and zirconium oxides, SiAlON, calcium phosphate based material (obtained from calcium phosphate certified for use in implants) and other, also custom-made compositions.
Now Lithoz has presented CeraVision and CeraDoc – two compatible modules, thanks to which owners of Lithoz printers can gain more control over the additive production process. The solution was developed by Lithoz engineers as part of the ProAM project as part of the Frontrunner FFG program, dedicated to Austrian companies in the field of technology, innovation or competence.
Cera Vison is a tool to monitor the 3D printing process in real time. It is compatible with 3D CeraFab printers, allows for quick detection and automatic correction of errors during 3D printing, allowing you to increase process efficiency and improve the quality of 3D prints.
Cera Doc, in turn, allows you to document recorded information in the additive manufacturing process, making it a useful solution in the field of quality control, from industrial production to the production of medical devices.
Johannes Benedikt, CTO and co-founder of Lithoz, says that their new solution is a way to significantly optimize additive manufacturing processes from ceramics. It is also a big step forward for the niche industry which is ceramic 3D printing. Conducting real-time analysis gives the opportunity to create full process documentation, which allows increasing the quality and repeatability of production.