Additive Manufacturing with SiSiC and Al₂O₃

CeramTec offers additive manufacturing with two high-performance ceramics: silicon carbide (SiSiC) under the brand name ROCAR® 3D and aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) under the brand name RUBALIT® 3D. Both materials are suitable for industrial applications with extreme requirements in terms of temperature, wear and corrosion resistance – from ceramic prototypes to series production.

Ceramic 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, enables the production of complex components directly from CAD data – without tooling or time-consuming machining steps such as green machining or milling. Undercuts and freely designed geometries can be produced, even though they would be impossible or extremely difficult to manufacture using traditional processes. Design changes can be implemented with just a mouse click, and CeramTec can also manufacture multiple components simultaneously on a single 3D printer. The result: shorter production lead times and changeover times, as well as maximum design freedom.

3D-printed SiSiC (ROCAR® 3D) is particularly suitable for applications involving extreme operating conditions. The material is temperature-resistant up to 1,350 °C, offers very high hardness, stiffness and flexural strength, high thermal conductivity and high chemical resistance. SiSiC also has a density that is 10% lower than that of metal and features electrical conductivity.

This makes the material ideal for lightweight structural and functional components, for example in the semiconductor industry, mechanical and plant engineering, and wear protection. The material properties of additively manufactured SiSiC components correspond to those of conventionally manufactured components, with deviations of only a few percentage points.

For Al₂O₃ 3D printing (RUBALIT® 3D), CeramTec uses material jetting technology in collaboration with the Israeli technology provider XJet. Liquids containing ceramic nanoparticles are built up layer by layer with micrometre precision using print heads equipped with thousands of inkjet nozzles.

This precision makes it possible to produce tiny, highly complex components – including moving parts in a single printing process. Al₂O₃ offers excellent electrical insulation, high mechanical strength, high hardness (>1,600 HV), corrosion and wear resistance, as well as an operating temperature of over 1,000 °C without mechanical loading. Typical areas of application include medical devices, measuring instruments and precision mechanics.

Yes – ceramic 3D printing at CeramTec is explicitly suitable for individual components, starting from a batch size of one, as well as for series production. Since no tooling is required, high tooling costs, which are typically incurred in conventional ceramic manufacturing processes, can be avoided.

Existing components can also be digitised and reproduced as 3D models. The CeramTec service team supports the entire process chain – from the technological assessment of the 3D model to the finished product.