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Architected materials present an opportunity to overcome the limited ability of brittle piezoelectric ceramics to strain under electromechanical load. In the absence of a commercially available resin containing piezoelectric nanoparticles, this work seeks to investigate the printability and thermal processability of a prepared piezoelectric particle loaded slurry using laser stereolithography. This was accomplished by comparing the cure depth, in-plane resolution, and the dimensional accuracy achieved with a piezoelectric slurry prepared with barium titanate, to a commercially available silica and alumina-based suspension. The study of thermal processability revealed the dimensional sensitivity of fabricated open architectures to sintering temperature and duration. The prepared piezoceramic slurry, containing barium titanate, was successfully polymerized using laser-stereolithography and its cure depth exhibited a similar response to exposure duration and fluence level as the commercial slurries. The in-plane resolution of the barium titanate-based slurry was unexpectedly high, and may be due to the opacity of the piezoelectric particles. Open architectures with millimeter sized features were successfully fabricated using laser stereolithography. Dimensional accuracy was highest for the alumina-based material system, and the inverse relationship between cured depth and in-plane resolution was reflected in the dimensions of the silica-based parts. Open architected structures further withstood thermal processing. During thermal processing, there was a greater reduction in height for all parts due to higher in-plane concentrations of ceramic particles, relative to the z-direction. Both an increase in sintering temperature and duration resulted in a uniform change of 1%, respectively, in part dimensions. Data collected in this work is to be used as a benchmark to inform formulation requirements, laser stereolithography parameter settings and thermal processing procedures for a custom ceramic slurry containing piezoelectric nanoparticles.
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