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3D Printing Breaks Ceramic Manufacturing Mold: ORNL Leverages Binder Jetting to Produce Leak-Tight Ceramic Components

September 23, 2025 Materials nanjixiong 114

The first leak-tight ceramic joint fabricated via additive manufacturing has been achieved by ORNL scientists using binder jet AM combined with advanced post-processing.

From left to right, Corson Cramer, Trevor Aguirre, and Amy Elliott are in discussion over a silicon carbide spiral component manufactured via binder jet 3D printing.

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have successfully tackled a long-standing challenge in ceramic 3D printing by integrating binder jet additive manufacturing (BJAM) with advanced post-processing techniques to produce leak-tight ceramic components. ORNL states this breakthrough represents the first known leak-tight joint fabricated via additive manufacturing (AM), laying the groundwork for the scalable production of BJAM-built parts.

The research team members involved in this study include Dylan Richardson, Corson Cramer, Amy Elliott, and Kashif Nawaz. For their contribution in the field of additive manufacturing, they received the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) 2025 Dick Aubin Outstanding Paper Award. The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and the Solar Energy Technologies Office.

Scalable, Low-Cost Process Expands Industrial Application Scenarios

Ceramic materials are indispensable in extreme environments due to their high-temperature resistance, strong chemical stability, and high mechanical strength. However, the large-scale production of ceramic additive manufacturing has long faced challenges, limiting the application of this technology in fields such as pharmaceuticals and chemicals, where high-throughput reactors require components with complex structures, larger sizes, and high gas tightness. The joining technology developed by ORNL can assemble multiple small 3D-printed ceramic components into larger, stronger structures without compromising overall performance.

Trevor Aguirre, the principal investigator of ORNL's Materials Processing for Extreme Environments Group, stated, "Ceramic 3D printing technology can create complex, high-performance components that are difficult to achieve with traditional manufacturing methods. This advancement provides a validated method for producing high-quality components and can also drive the development of next-generation reactors."

The research team tested various geometric structures to screen designs that maintain gas tightness. At the same time, they optimized the post-processing techniques to further enhance the bonding and sealing of the ceramic joints. These ceramic components can meet the demand for larger structures while relying on a cost-effective process, which supports the broader application of ceramic additive manufacturing in high-performance industries such as aerospace.

A 3D-printed component was filled with a silicon carbide pre-ceramic polymer, which formed amorphous silicon carbide after heat treatment.

Global Innovations in Ceramic 3D Printing
Beyond ORNL, several companies are continuously pushing the technical boundaries of ceramic additive manufacturing:

Lithoz (Austria) - September 2025: This Austrian company is producing aluminum nitride (AlN) heat exchangers for the hydrogen-electric propulsion systems of megawatt-class aircraft. This work falls under the EU-funded TRIATHLON project, which aims to develop more robust, lower-emission, and lower-maintenance power systems to help decarbonize the aviation industry and enhance system sustainability. The design of these heat exchangers was completed by Ergon Research using a thermodynamically driven control system. The production utilizes Lithoz's Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing (LCM) technology with CeraFab 3D printers. These ceramic components eliminate the need for high-energy-consumption cryogenic hydrogen pumps. The aluminum nitride material boasts a thermal conductivity of 211 W/mK and a suitable coefficient of thermal expansion, enabling compact and lightweight structural designs—a critical factor in electric aviation. This technology is expected to reduce maintenance requirements, potentially saving operators billions of euros.

Tethon 3D & polySpectra (USA) - April 2025: The American ceramic AM specialist Tethon 3D partnered with advanced materials company polySpectra to launch a composite photopolymer resin named ThOR 10. This resin is specifically designed for industrial 3D printing, combining polySpectra's thermally stable and impact-resistant Cyclic Olefin Resin (COR) platform with Tethon's proprietary ceramic fillers. The resulting resin is suitable for manufacturing end-use parts with demanding performance requirements.

Nanjixiong's Commentary
The breakthrough by ORNL holds significant industry value. By combining Binder Jetting Additive Manufacturing (BJAM) with advanced post-processing to produce leak-free ceramic components, it not only overcomes the long-standing challenges of leakage and scalability in ceramic 3D printing but also provides solutions for industrial needs such as high-throughput reactors. The recognition through the SME award further validates the technology's credibility. Meanwhile, simultaneous innovations from companies like Lithoz and Tethon 3D are expanding the application boundaries of ceramic AM in areas like aviation hydrogen-electric systems and industrial resins, respectively. Overall, these advancements are breaking down the application limitations of ceramic additive manufacturing, promoting its adoption in high-end fields such as chemical engineering and aerospace, and accelerating the industry's industrialization process.