Study of role of dispersant and rheology modifier for silicon nitride ink

• Main Author: Nan, Sharon Yuan Qing
• Other Authors: Li Hua
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/74588
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Over the years, 3D printing techniques have been evolving. Many researches and studies have been done to maximize its potential. Other than maximizing the technology’s potential, the materials used was also explored. One of the widely explored materials is ceramics. As compared to metal and polymers, development for ceramic materials are still lagging and 3D printing of ceramics is more challenging. 3D printing of ceramics is harder due to its resistance to high temperature making it difficult to synthesize ceramic particles together and the material’s low self-diffusivity made it hard to sinter. For this study, Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) will be used for all experiments. Silicon Nitride is one of the commonly used ceramic materials for engineering processes or engineering applications. The primary objective of this study is to study the effects of having different concentrations of Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) solid loading mixed with different percentage of additives (dispersant and rheology modifier). Suspensions will be mixed and rheology characterization will be carried out on the slurries to determine their rheology properties. After rheology characterization, the slurries will be sintered and analyzed by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Archimedes principle will be tested to determine the densities of the sintered samples. The test results showed that amount of solid loading added into the suspension is directly proportional to the viscosity and density, the amount of dispersant added into the suspension is inversely proportional the viscosity and density, the amount of rheology modifier added into the suspension is directly proportional to the initial viscosity and inversely proportional to the density.