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I trained as a ceramic engineer and have worked as a development engineer at 3DCeram for eight years. That combination has shaped how I look at ceramic additive manufacturing: the material, the machine and the firing route must work as one process. In aerospace investment casting, the stakes are clear. Ceramic cores create internal cavities and cooling passages in turbine components cast from nickel-based superalloys. They must keep their geometry through contact with molten metal, then be removable after casting. Core design is therefore tied to dimensional accuracy, thermal behaviour, mechanical handling, and leachability—not only to the printer’s resolution.

The collaboration between 3DCeram and Avignon Ceramic brings complementary experience to this challenge. Avignon Ceramic has longstanding expertise in ceramic core design and production for precision foundries; 3DCeram contributes stereolithography (SLA) equipment and know-how in ceramic printing formulations. Within partnership, the companies developed Silicore for printed foundry cores. It is a silica-based, photosensitive ceramic formulation. Technical material on Silicore SX describes a mineral basis also used by Avignon Ceramic for injection-moulded cores, adapted to a different shaping route. That link matters: additive manufacturing can change how a core is shaped, while the ceramic still has to meet the foundry’s requirements for the selected alloy and casting method.

In SLA, a computer-controlled ultraviolet laser selectively cures a ceramic-loaded suspension, layer by layer, following a digital model. Formulation and printing are closely coupled: powder characteristics and loading affect how light travels through the suspension, while the feedstock must also spread into uniform layers and cure reliably. After printing, the “green” core still needs cleaning, debinding to remove organic constituents, and firing before it can be assessed in the wax and casting stages. The C1000 FLEXMATIC is 3DCeram’s industrial, semi-automated SLA platform, with a 320 × 320 × 200 mm build area; technical material for the foundry-core process identifies the C1000 for production. This makes it relevant to scaling the route, while the result for any specific core remains dependent on its geometry, process settings, and foundry validation.

An engineering lesson from this work is that a successful material is defined by the whole chain: printability, fired dimensions, strength during handling, behaviour at casting temperature and removal after casting. Published Silicore SX work reports evaluation through printing, firing, wax injection, and single-crystal casting; those results demonstrate a route for the tested application, not automatic qualification for every part or foundry. SLA offers a way to make complex core geometries and revise digital designs without producing new shaping tools, so it can complement established methods where tooling or geometry is limiting. The wider opportunity lies in joining ceramic materials knowledge with process and foundry expertise—and in giving young ceramicists roles that connect formulation science to industrial production.

This collaboration illustrates why materials and process specialists benefit from working across the whole manufacturing chain. It also shows how young ceramicists can connect their knowledge of materials with digital manufacturing and industrial foundry applications.

Clément Darribeyros

3DCeram, France

clement.darribeyros@3dceram.com

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