Lithoz assists with ceramic printer install at Colorado School of Mines

The Alliance for the Development of Additive Processing Technologies (ADAPTSM), an industry-academia consortium that advances data informatics and advanced characterization technologies to Optimize for AdditiveSM, welcomes new member Lithoz, the world leader in development and production of ceramic materials and additive manufacturing (AM) systems.

Lithoz connected with ADAPT through a research collaboration with Professors Corinne Packard and Geoff Brennecka at Colorado School of Mines. Mines is currently investigating mechanical properties of ceramics produced by lithography-based ceramic manufacturing (LCM) with graduate student Sarah Sortedahl with the intent of exploring whether separate standards are needed for ceramic AM.

“The mechanical properties of ceramics are highly sensitive to material or manufacturing flaws,” said Professor Packard. “Working with Lithoz directly, and having a CeraFab 7500 printer here at Mines, allows us to rapidly evaluate and optimize processes for achieving strength and reliability in AM ceramics.”

“Ceramic additive manufacturing is particularly suited to aerospace and biomedical applications. The representation of these markets in ADAPT’s membership makes Mines and ADAPT a natural partnership. This partnership allowed us to install one of our ceramic printers in a Mines lab. There, it is being used for research and courses focused on AM technology and design for AM,” said Shawn Allan, VP of Lithoz America. “We are excited to see the student research projects that result from this new capability. We also hope to leverage resources such as ADAPT’s Citrination database to improve the utilization and learning that can be achieved with the vast amount of data generated in the LCM process.”

“The Lithoz membership in ADAPT formally marks our commitment to expand ADAPT’s research mission to all solid materials, beyond the alloys focus we had in our first few years,” said ADAPT Executive Director Aaron Stebner.