Fabrication of YAG ceramic tube by UV-assisted direct ink writing

Yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) ceramic slurries with well-posed printability for ultraviolet(UV) curing-assisted, direct ink writing (DIW) were successfully prepared in this study by optimising the types and contents of dispersants, as well as solids loading. The rheological test results showed that Disperbyk-103 had the best dispersion effect, and the ceramic slurry with the solids loading of 76 wt% was obtained by adding 3.0 wt% Disperbyk-103. In addition, the effect of the coupling relationship between the printing parameters on the shape control of the sample was studied. After debinding, the printed ceramic green body was sintered at 1750 °C for 6 h, and the in-line transmittance of the sintered ceramic was 84.0% at 1064 nm. Using the developed method, a high-aspect-ratio ceramic tube with a wall thickness of approximately 1 mm, without obvious deformation, was successfully fabricated.