Aluminium nitride (AlN) is one of the materials used for the preparation of substrates for electronic circuits. Such substrates can be prepared via tape casting method.Until now, only non-aqueous and aqueous tape casting was developed and studied for AlN. In this work, the development of UV-curable tape casting for AlN, including the use of photopolymerisable binder, is shown. Two different dispersing agents, BYK-W 9010 and glycerol trioleate, were used to stabilize and homogenize AlN dispersions. In order to modify the powder surface, a pre-treatment step was used, where the powder was first mixed with the dispersing agent in an azeotropic solvent mixture, followed by the evaporation of the solvents and the redispersing of the pre-conditioned powder into the reactive binder. The effective concentration of the dispersants, the impact of the solid loading on the viscosity and slurry behaviour, as well as the effect of the powder preconditioning, were studied by means of rheological measurements. Green tapes were optimised by evaluating the effect of the casting gap and the photo-and co-initiator

Silicone resins, filled with phosphates and other oxide fillers, yield upon firing in air at 1100 °C, a product resembling Biosilicate® glass-ceramics, one of the most promising systems for tissue engineering applications. The process requires no preliminary synthesis of parent glass, and the polymer route enables the application of direct ink writing (DIW) of silicone-based mixtures, for the manufacturing of reticulated scaffolds at room temperature. The thermal treatment is later applied for the conversion into ceramic scaffolds. The present paper further elucidates the flexibility of the approach. Changes in the reference silicone and firing atmosphere (from air to nitrogen) were studied to obtain functional composite biomaterials featuring a carbon phase embedded in a Biosilicate®-like matrix. The microstructure was further modified either through a controlled gas release at a low temperature, or by the revision of the adopted additive manufacturing technology (from DIW to digital light processing).

Additive manufacturing technologies, compared to conventional shaping methods, offer great opportunities in design versatility, for the manufacturing of highly porous ceramic components. However, the application to glass powders, later subjected to viscous flow sintering, involves significant challenges, especially in shape retention and in the achievement of a substantial degree of translucency in the final products. The present paper disclosed the potential of glass recovered from liquid crystal displays (LCD) for the manufacturing of highly porous scaffolds by direct ink writing and masked stereolithography of fine powders mixed with suitable organic additives, and sintered at 950 °C, for 1–1.5 h, in air. The specific glass, featuring a relatively high transition temperature (Tg~700 °C), allowed for the complete burn-out of organics before viscous flow sintering could take place; in addition, translucency was favored by the successful removal of porosity in the struts and by the resistance of the used glass to crystallization.