Laminated Object Manufacturing of an Extremely-Tough Layered Ceramic Matrix Composite

The transition of DOD developed technologies into the commercial market is needed to maintain a strong advanced materials industry. Cost is the primary consideration in the commercial market. Therefore, manufacturing processes are needed to produce components from advanced materials that are affordable and competitive on a cost basis with current materials. Lone Peak Engineering (LPE) proposes to combine two DOD developed technologies to manufacture extremely tough advanced ceramic matrix composites at affordable costs. An AFOSR project has developed a new laminar ceramic matrix composite of a ceria-zirconia matrix reinforced with layers of CEO2-ZrO2 ceramics. These layered composites have the potential for fracture toughness as high as some tool steels, up to 40 MPa-m. In a separate ARPA project, LPE is developing a desktop manufacturing system for monolithic ceramics using a laminated object manufacturing (LOM) technique. The LOM technique is uniquely suited to manufacture the layered ceramic composites. The objective of the Phase I project is to demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing the layered ceramic matrix composites using the LOM technique. The objective of the Phase II project will be to develop the equipment and processes to that layered composites can be manufactured for DOD and commercial applications at reasonable costs. Anticipated Benefits: The combination of the LOM process and layered ceramic composites will provide a cost-effective method to produce reliable ceramic components with high fracture toughness in the shapes required for various applications. The components will find applications in both the DOD and commercial markets.