Additive Manufacturing Utilizing a Novel In-Line Mixing System for Design of Functionally Graded Ceramic Composites

Exploring the development of a direct ink writing system with multimaterial and in-line mixing capabilities for printing inks composed of high solids-loaded ceramic particulate suspensions.

Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

The impetus for advancing brittle ceramic materials used for armor applications has been identified as both an increased mass efficiency for greater weight reduction and enhanced performance against ballistic threats through manipulating the physics of failure.

Development of functionally graded ceramic composites is a potential solution for enabling new dynamic fracture and deformation mechanisms in armor materials, surpassing that of the individual intrinsic material behaviors. However, engineering of these composite structures is currently limited due to the stochastic nature of traditional powder mixing and processing. Thus, additive manufacturing (AM) is being studied as an enabling technology for processing discrete mesostructural features, complex geometries, and compositional variation.