Liquid to a solid: Boron-modified silazanes for synthesis of SiBNC ceramics

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

I know I've seen the first, and have read about the second, but they will undoubtedly be good additions to the thread.

I think the biggest hurdle for everything is going to be practical. Meaning, nozzles that don't wear out (perhaps like this material), easy change of materials, reliable printing in diverse environments, practical vat design, UI, etc. Those are currently very real issues, especially when trying to deal with reasonable cost. Really just kind of the basic things that are required to move from a niche market to the general.

We will see where it all ends up, and how fast it gets there, but a new facet in my own "doings" is a multi-material printer that will have the plans for all of the designs packaged right with it. Its a waiting game currently, since with that much throughput, system wear is unacceptably high. Materials like this could really make a difference in that respect, depending on cost.

a reply to: Serdgiam

A team of researchers at MIT has designed one of the strongest lightweight materials known, by compressing and fusing flakes of graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon. The new material, a sponge-like configuration with a density of just 5 percent, can have a strength 10 times that of steel.
...
The new findings show that the crucial aspect of the new 3-D forms has more to do with their unusual geometrical configuration than with the material itself, which suggests that similar strong, lightweight materials could be made from a variety of materials by creating similar geometric features.

MIT.edu, news - Researchers design one of the strongest, lightest materials known.

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powerengineering.com - Siemens Successfully Tests 3D-Printed Gas Turbine Blades.

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3dprint.com - GE Global Research Uses 3D Printing to Create Mini Turbine That Can Power 10,000 Homes.

So that is what I was thinking. They already have the shapes (Siemens uses 3D metal printing), GE's is still plastic but they are investing heavily in 3D printing. And the MIT story is about shapes that are also 3D printed and have strength.

If they can use other materials, then the Boron-modified silizanes is a natural fit. More and more of our world will be 3D printed and ceramic where needed.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Teot.,
The turbine blades represent nearly 20 years of development.
Technically it is a laser sintered powder metal process.
The powder is injected into a high pressure gas stream that is heated by laser. So it uses heat and kinetic energy to form the product.
The process was initially developed to build large sheet metal stamping dies for the auto industry.
It was licensed by kodak in the early 2000's, but never really went anywhere.
One aspect of this process, is that parts can be made from multiple metals.

I saw a sample part at a trade show made by the process, it appeared to be a solid round tool steel bar, 1-1/2"dia. X 12", but a sectioned part showed the bar to be hollow with six interal spiral flutes, and a BRONZE core. There is no other way to manufacture such a shape from multiple metals.
As cool as it is, one thing about parts made this way, is they have no grain.
Grain structure has a great deal to due with the strength of a metal part. With parts machined from a wrought or cast base material, the shape cuts across the grain of the metal. While in a forged part the grain follows the shape of the part.


Turbine blades used to all be forged, then in order to cut costs, some companies went to machined from solid. About this time there was a rash of blade failures, which is something that was unheard of with a forged blade, i feel that this situation might show its ugly head again.

a reply to: punkinworks10

I think Siemens did theirs as a prototype. The article says it takes out 90% of the prototyping time to do it that way.

GE's is still plastic so I think that is also a prototype.

But the fact they have the shapes already. That is half the struggle right there. Now if they can link up ceramics... then it gets very interesting very quickly. All the materials in their process interlock and entwine. The info graphic at the Kansas State site is worth looking at. Which is why the OP specifies "turbine blades" since it may solve the failure issue.

It is all speculation on my part. But one day, in the not too distant future... maybe not speculation but a reality. And I like hoping for the best.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Best thread....EVAH!!!

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
a reply to: punkinworks10

I think Siemens did theirs as a prototype. The article says it takes out 90% of the prototyping time to do it that way.

GE's is still plastic so I think that is also a prototype.

But the fact they have the shapes already. That is half the struggle right there. Now if they can link up ceramics... then it gets very interesting very quickly. All the materials in their process interlock and entwine. The info graphic at the Kansas State site is worth looking at. Which is why the OP specifies "turbine blades" since it may solve the failure issue.

It is all speculation on my part. But one day, in the not too distant future... maybe not speculation but a reality. And I like hoping for the best.

One of the coolest things happened over a dozen years ago, with turbine blades...and kind of disappeared off the interwebs. But they figured out how to cast metal blades, as a single crystal, through using the shape of the sprue to physically limit the crystalization to a single track/expansion, to eliminate the weak areas where competing structures would meet.

Seems like ceramics would make that moot, for many physical parts. Pretty sure that at some point, we will merely print lattices, and just grow space hulls.

This would be potentially useful for water arc explosion research where a non conductive high strength material must be used to contain the blast. It could also be self-healing by simply cooling it to re-liquefy it and then casting it back into the mold where it's heated to solidify.