Preparation and thermal insulation properties of TPMS 3Y-TZP ceramics using DLP 3D printing technology

To expand the application of zirconia ceramics in thermal insulation, this study proposes a method to prepare Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal ceramics (3Y-TZP ceramics) with fine and complex triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS structures) using digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing technology. The 3Y-TZP ceramic green body was sintered using a two-step method. When sintered at 1450 °C for 3 h, 3Y-TZP ceramics with a relative density of 98.6 ± 0.2% and a flexural strength of 937 ± 24 MPa were finally obtained. Three types of TPMS 3Y-TZP ceramic structures were successfully prepared. A finite element method was employed to validate the mechanical and thermal insulation properties through in-depth experimental studies. The results demonstrate that the diamond structure exhibited the lowest thermal conductivity of 0.93 ± 0.035 W/(mK) and the highest compressive strength of 166.5 ± 27.3 MPa at 67% porosity. The TPMS-type porous 3Y-TZP ceramics prepared by DLP technology have both load-bearing and thermal insulation properties, making them potentially promising for thermal insulation applications.