Free radical-initiated direct ink writing of liquid polycarbosilane slurry and its conversion into SiC ceramic parts with low shrinkage

Additive manufacturing technology is being developed for manufacturing SiC ceramic parts with designed shape and microstructure. In this study, direct ink writing (DIW) was adopted to print SiC ceramic parts. To avoid incorporating volatile organic solvents or water, a SiC ceramic precursor liquid polycarbosilane (LPCS) was used as the binder of SiC powder and the rheological adjustment additive. The content of LPCS with the content and diameter of SiC powder were optimized to improve the fluidity of slurry, increase its ceramic yield and reduce its shrinkage during pyrolysis. According to the results of rheological analysis and shrinkage during pyrolysis, 78 wt% SiC powders composed of 40 nm SiC powder and 5 μm SiC powder in a ratio of 1:6 was appropriate. For achieving rapid solidification rate of the slurry at low temperature, a free‐radical initiator which can trigger the crosslinking of allyl group on LPCS was incorporated. According to the results of rheology, DSC and FT-IR, the preferred platform temperature for fast curing of DIW slurry was 150 °C. As the slurry accumulated layer by layer on heating platform, the cured green bodies were successfully prepared. After pyrolysis to 1200 °C, SiC ceramic parts were obtained with only 4.43 % linear shrinkage associated with the precursor-to-ceramic conversion. Because the shrinkage was limited, no obvious deformation or crack was found.