Additive manufacturing techniques for fabricating complex ceramic components from preceramic polymers

Additive manufacturing of polymeric materials has a long history. During the 1980s and 1990s, stereo lithography, fused deposition modeling, and selective laser sintering were initially developed based on the successful use of polymeric feedstocks. The physical properties of polymeric materials make them particularly suitable for various additive manufacturing technologies. For instance, polymeric materials can easily be converted from a solid to a liquid or paste by dissolution or low-temperature melting. Therefore, manufacturing techniques can fuse polymeric filaments or powders in a layer-by-layer buildup of parts. Additional methods can trigger the reverse phase transition back to a solid either by a change in temperature of the material or by evaporation of solvents.