Lithoz adds three materials for ceramic Additive Manufacturing
April 14, 2023
Lithoz, Vienna, Austria, has added three new ceramic materials to its portfolio: zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA), alumina-toughened zirconia (ATZ), and aluminium nitride.
Zirconia-toughened alumina
Zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) is a mixed ceramic which combines the properties of zirconia and alumina. In order to increase fracture toughness, alumina is reinforced with zirconia to increase the bending strength to 620 MPa. The result is zirconia-toughened alumina, a material with the hardness of alumina and the increased toughness, strength and stiffness of zirconia. Furthermore, mixtures with lower amounts of zirconia retain the electrical insulation capacity of alumina.
ZTA10 (10 vol% zirconia) and ZTA20 (20 vol% zirconia) have already been successfully processed, and customer-specific mixing ratios can also be produced if desired.
Alumina-toughened zirconia
Alumina-toughened zirconia (ATZ) is said to combine the best material properties of alumina and zirconia, resulting in high levels of strength, hardness, fracture toughness, as well as good biocompatibility, chemical inertness and abrasion resistance.
The ATZ powder used by Lithoz in LithaCon ATZ 980 has around 20 wt% alumina and 80 wt% zirconia. Thanks to remarkably high wall thicknesses up to 20 mm and a characteristic strength of 750 MPa (3PB, as fired), complex and highly precise additively manufactured ATZ parts can now be produced using LithaCon ATZ 980.
The desirable material properties of ATZ components make them well suited to medical applications, such as permanent implants in dentistry and orthopaedics, as well as other high-wear applications.
Aluminium nitride
Aluminium nitride is the perfect high-performance ceramic material for thermal applications. The density and thermal conductivity of additively manufactured aluminium nitride components matches that of conventionally produced parts. Powerful properties, including a thermal expansion coefficient similar to silicon as well as high mechanical and thermal stability, make it a suitable material for industrial applications and semiconductors.
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