Lithography-Based Ceramic Manufacturing (LCM) for Dental Applications

Dental applications like crowns, veneers or bridges require high accuracy to be fitted on the patient’s stump. Stereolithography is an additive manufacturing method, which offers high precision by using light exposure as the layer generating mechanism. In the LCM process, this precision is combined with a thermal post-processing step to achieve full ceramic restorations. The overall production of such ceramic parts in a reproducible way is a highly complex procedure. The first requirement is to find a slurry formulation, which is stable against sedimentation and segregation, that is also processable in a stereolithographic system. Such a formulation has been found by us, which could be shown by rheology measurements. During experiments with this formulation, it could be observed that there is a correlation between wet film thickness and resolution. Several adjustments to the machine have been made, to fully control this parameter. Namely, changes to the vat, the doctor blade and the building platform have been made. The improvement of the process and the quality of the final parts are validated by fabricating Siemens stars and by biaxial bending tests.