Additive manufacturing of Proton-Conducting Ceramics by robocasting with integrated laser postprocessing

The summary of novel conclusions: • a hybrid system for additive manufacturing of ceramics was developed by combining the robocasting technique with laser postprocessing; • the ceramics sintering time was reduced to the range of seconds, by utilizing the laser beam scanning speed of 500 mm/s, • promising positrode material for Proton Ceramic Electrochemical Cell – Ba 0.5 La 0.5 Co 0.25 Fe 0.75 O 3-δ – was deposited on BaZr 0.4 Ce 0.4 Y 0.2 O 3-δ electrolyte pellets, • single-phase electrodes of various porosity were fabricated with the developed fabrication technique. A hybrid system combining robocasting and NIR laser postprocessing has been designed to fabricate layers of mixed proton-electron conducting Ba 0.5 La 0.5 Co 1-x Fe x O 3-δ ceramic. The proposed manufacturing technique allows for the control of the geometry and microstructure and shortens the fabrication time to a range of a few minutes. Using 5 W laser power and a scanning speed of 500 mm·s −1 , sintering of a round-shaped layer with an 8 mm radius was performed in less than 2 s. The single phase of the final product was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. Various ceramic-to-polymer weight ratios were tested, showing that various porosities of microstructures of ∼30 - 35 % and ∼19 % can be obtained with 2:1 and 4:1 loading respectively.