Direct ink writing of continuous SiO₂ fiber reinforced wave-transparent ceramics

This article reports the first example of 3D printed continuous SiO₂ fiber reinforced wave-transparent ceramic composites via an adaptation of direct ink writing technology to improve the mechanical and dielectric properties of ceramics. The ceramic inks showed good printability by adding nano-SiO₂ powder. The effective continuous fiber-reinforced printing progress was achieved through the design and optimization of the coaxial needle structures by finite element simulation. After printing, the continuous fibers were evenly and continuously distributed in the matrix ceramics and the high molding precision for fiber reinforced composite was kept. It is demonstrated that 10 vol% continuous SiO₂ fiber improved the bending strength of ceramics by about 27% better than that of the ceramics without fiber and the dielectric performance has also been greatly improved. The novel method unravels the potential of direct ink writing of continuous fiber reinforced wave-transparent ceramics with complex structures and improved properties.