Rapid Prototyping Methodologies for Ceramic Micro Components

This paper investigates the rapid prototyping of components from ceramics. Selective laser sintering of barium titanate powder has been investigated as a potential route to manufacturing freeform electro-ceramic based components. Raman spectroscopy has been used to investigate the effect of laser power and oxygen partial pressure on the phase and composition of the sintered material. It is shown that the sintering laser power strongly influences the composition. As the laser power is increased during sintering, the Eg mode of anatase becomes evident at 640 cm-1. When the oxygen partial pressure in the sintering atmosphere is reduced from 19% to 0.2% the whole depth of the powder bed sampled by Raman spectroscopy resembles bulk anatase.