The latest milestone features a new method to print ceramic microlattices, the new lattices are both stronger and display less flaws than those made using conventional sintering processes.

This breakthrough, made possible by Californian research facility HRL, incidentally founded by airplane legend Howard Hughes, presents a gamechanger, not only for the 3D printing process but manufacturing industries as well, most notably, the airline sector.

The properties exhibited by the new process, including hardness, strength, temperature capability and resistance to both abrasion and corrosion fits in perfectly with the design requirements of making an aircraft. “With our new 3D printing process, we can take full advantage of the many desirable properties of the silicon oxycarbide ceramic” said HRL Sensors and Materials Laboratory senior scientist Dr. Tobias Schaedler.

The process could potentially free up aircraft manufacturers the same way as more developed segments of 3D printing, such as metal printing, have done, ultimately allowing more efficient manufacturing of ceramic parts that are both stronger and temperature resistant.

Senior chemical engineer Zak Eckel, one of two men credited with the invention of the resin (the other being senior chemist Dr. Chaoyin Zhou), acknowledges that the new ceramic resin and breakthrough process is a huge leap for ceramic printing.

Schaedler himself marvels at the possibilities of their new invention, stating “Everything from large components in jet engines and hypersonic vehicles to intricate parts in microelectromechanical systems and electronic device packaging could be fabricated.”