3D Printing of Hollow Microspheres into Strong Hierarchical Porous Ceramics

Abstract

Porous ceramics are demanded in a wide range of high‐temperature, biological and energy‐related applications, but may show conflicting properties or suffer from poor mechanical properties. Introducing pores at different length scales has been shown to be a promising design strategy to combine antagonistic performance parameters and reach high porosity without severely compromising strength. Here, a cost‐effective and simple process to create strong, highly porous ceramics via direct ink writing of suspensions of hollow microspheres into cellular architectures with pores at three hierarchical levels is reported. X‐ray diffraction, rheological measurements, scanning electron microscopy, and mechanical tests are conducted to thoroughly study the processing steps and morphology of the printed hierarchical porous ceramics. The presence of pores at multiple length scales increases significantly the mechanical strength of the porous structure, providing a useful platform for the manufacturing of lightweight ceramics from inexpensive and widely available feedstock materials.