3D fine scale ceramic components formed by ink-jet prototyping process

Different investigations have been carried out to optimize an ink-jet printing technique, devoted to the fabrication of 3D fine scale ceramic parts, by adjustment of the fluid properties of the ceramic suspensions and by controlling the ejection and impact phenomena. A 10 vol.% PZT loaded suspension characterized by a Newtonian behavior corresponding to a viscosity of 10 mPa s and to a ratio Re/We1/2 of 5.98 has been selected. The ejection and impact phenomena strongly depend on the driving parameters of the printing head, in particular the formation of the droplet, with satellite or not, as well as its velocity and volume are function of the pulse amplitude. Moreover, the conditions of ejection (droplet velocity and volume) control the characteristics of the deposit (definition, spreading and thickness uniformity). Green PZT pillar array corresponding to the skeleton of 1–3 ceramic polymer composite for imaging probes has been achieved by ink-jet printing with a definition equal to 90 μm.