CN110696143A

CN110696143A - Method and equipment for forming ceramic material

Info

Publication number: CN110696143A
Application number: CN201910980921.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 林宗立; 林致扬
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2019-10-16
Filing date: 2019-10-16
Publication date: 2020-01-17

Abstract

A method for forming a ceramic material comprises the following steps: providing ceramic slurry, which comprises ceramic powder and a solvent; paving ceramic slurry; irradiating and heating a specific area on the ceramic slurry with a first laser beam to perform a first forming process on the specific area; irradiating and heating the specific area on the ceramic slurry with a second laser beam to perform a second molding process on the ceramic slurry in the specific area, thereby forming a ceramic green body. Wherein the power of the first laser is less than or equal to the power of the second laser. The method of the present invention can improve the structural stability and surface fineness of the ceramic slurry after molding, the uniformity of the layer thickness during three-dimensional printing, and the bonding strength in the layer. The invention also provides a forming device for ceramic material for implementing the forming method.

Description

Method and equipment for forming ceramic material

[ technical field ] A method for producing a semiconductor device

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for forming a ceramic material, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for forming a ceramic material by using a three-dimensional printing technique.

[ Prior Art ]

Ceramic is an inorganic material with a history of thousands of years, but the hard and brittle characteristics increase the difficulty of processing and forming the ceramic material. The traditional ceramic preparation process can only manufacture products with simple three-dimensional shapes, and has high manufacturing cost and long period. However, with the rapid development of three-dimensional printing technology, the formation of ceramic materials can also be achieved by the three-dimensional printing technology.

At present, ceramic three-dimensional printing and forming technologies can be mainly classified into ink-jet printing (IJP), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Layered Object Manufacturing (LOM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), and stereo light curing (SLA). The ceramic blank obtained by three-dimensional printing by using the technologies can be degreased and sintered at high temperature to obtain a ceramic finished product.

Wherein, the stereo photo-curing technology (SLA) adopts ceramic slurry containing ultraviolet photosensitive resin as an ultraviolet photosensitive resin as a binder to adhere ceramic powder. However, in the high-temperature sintering process, the photosensitive resin is carbonized due to high temperature, and the carbonization temperature of the photosensitive resin is lower than the sintering temperature of the ceramic powder, and further, before the sintering of the ceramic powder, the photosensitive resin is burned off, so that the shrinkage rate of the ceramic slurry is increased, and the ceramic product is easily deformed. In addition, the photosensitive resin generates gases harmful to human bodies when burned out.

In the prior art, high power fiber laser or carbon dioxide laser is used to heat the ceramic slurry to solidify the ceramic slurry, but the solidification method would loosen the ceramic structure and further roughen the ceramic surface. Therefore, there is a need for improvement.

[ summary of the invention ]

In view of the above, one aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for forming a ceramic material, comprising the following steps: providing ceramic slurry, which comprises ceramic powder and a solvent; paving ceramic slurry; irradiating and heating a specific area on the ceramic slurry with a first laser beam to perform a first forming process on the ceramic slurry in the specific area; irradiating and heating the specific area on the ceramic slurry with a second laser beam to perform a second molding process on the ceramic slurry in the specific area, thereby forming a ceramic green body. Wherein the power of the first laser is less than or equal to the power of the second laser.

Wherein, in the step of laying ceramic slurry, the following substeps are further included: laying ceramic slurry on a material placing part of a ceramic material forming device.

Wherein, the step of irradiating and heating the specific area on the ceramic slurry with the second laser light to perform the second molding process on the ceramic slurry in the specific area, thereby forming the ceramic green body further comprises a step of: removing the unshaped ceramic slurry.

Wherein, in the step of the first forming procedure, the method further comprises the following steps: irradiating a specific region of the ceramic slurry with first laser light to perform a chemical reaction on the ceramic slurry in the specific region to release water molecules; heating water molecules with the first laser light to evaporate the water molecules from the ceramic slurry. In the step of the second molding process, the method further comprises the following steps: irradiating the specific region of the ceramic slurry with a second laser beam to chemically react the ceramic slurry in the specific region without chemical reaction and release water molecules; heating water molecules with the second laser light to evaporate the water molecules from the ceramic slurry to form a ceramic green body. Wherein the water molecule yield of the first molding process is greater than the water molecule yield of the second molding process, and the chemical reaction comprises at least one of a hydrolysis reaction, a condensation reaction, and a polymerization reaction.

Wherein, after the first laser light is used for heating and evaporation, the water content of the ceramic slurry in the specific area is less than that of the ceramic slurry before the heating and evaporation, and the water content of the ceramic slurry after the first laser light is used for heating and evaporation is between 6% and 15%.

Wherein, after the second laser light is used for heating and evaporation, the water content of the ceramic slurry in the specific area is less than that of the ceramic slurry before the second laser light is used for heating and evaporation, and the water content of the ceramic slurry after the second laser light is used for heating and evaporation is between 1% and 5%.

Wherein the power range of the first laser light is between 1 to 10 Watts (W). The power of the second laser light ranges from 5 to 40 watts (W).

Wherein the wavelength of the first laser light is the same as that of the second laser light, and the wavelength range is between 1500 to 20000 nm.

Wherein the ceramic powder has a particle size of 50 to 50000 nm.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a ceramic material forming apparatus for three-dimensional printing. The forming equipment comprises a lifting device, a feeding device and a laser device. The lifting device is provided with a material placing component and a lifting component. The material placing component is used for providing a region for placing the ceramic slurry. The lifting component is coupled with the material placing component and used for lifting or lowering the material placing component. The feeding device is arranged above the material placing part and used for providing ceramic slurry to the material placing part. The laser device is arranged above the lifting device and used for emitting first laser light and second laser light with different powers to irradiate and heat the ceramic slurry. The laser device can control the action paths of the first laser and the second laser, so that the action paths of the first laser and the second laser can be adjusted corresponding to the material placing part, and the first laser and the second laser emitted by the laser device irradiate and heat the ceramic slurry in a specific area.

Compared with the prior art, the method for forming the ceramic material utilizes the laser irradiation way of at least two stages to remove water in the ceramic slurry step by step, so that the nano ceramic powder is polymerized and formed. The forming method of the present invention has the following advantages: 1. the water in the ceramic slurry is removed successively, namely the solid content of the ceramic slurry is increased successively, so that the problem that the ceramic green body structure after solidification is loose due to sputtering of non-polymerized ceramic powder along with water evaporation caused by one-time removal of the water in the ceramic slurry is solved. 2. The water in the ceramic slurry is removed successively to improve the solid content of the ceramic slurry successively, and the fineness of the surface of the ceramic green product can be improved. 3. Because the fineness of the single-layer surface is improved, the laid thickness is consistent when the next layer of ceramic slurry is laid, and the structural stability of the solidified ceramic green body is further improved. 4. The power of the laser light is increased gradually, so that the ceramic slurry can be heated uniformly, the agglomeration density of the ceramic powder is uniform, and the bonding strength in a single layer of the cured ceramic green body is improved.

[ brief description of the drawings ]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a ceramic slurry assembled in a single stage process according to the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating steps in a method for forming a ceramic material in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of steps according to a further embodiment of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow diagram according to FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating steps in a method for forming a ceramic material according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for forming a ceramic material according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the operation of a ceramic material forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the operation of a ceramic material forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[ notation ] to show

E: material placing plate

1: ceramic slurry

11: ceramic powder

12: solvent(s)

2: ceramic green body

3: molding apparatus

31: lifting device

311: material placing part

312: lifting component

32: feeding device

33: laser device

331: first laser light

332: second laser light

34: scraping knife

S1-S63: step (ii) of

S21-S42: substeps of

[ embodiment ] A method for producing a semiconductor device

In order that the advantages, spirit and features of the invention will be readily understood and appreciated, embodiments thereof will be described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that these examples are only representative examples of the present invention. It may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete.

The terminology used in the various embodiments of the disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the various embodiments of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in this specification have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the various embodiments of the disclosure belong. The above terms (such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries) should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the same technical field and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

In the prior art, a method for heating ceramic slurry by laser can be combined, and the method for forming ceramic material is to heat the ceramic slurry by high-power fiber laser or carbon dioxide laser to solidify the ceramic slurry, but the structure of the solidified ceramic blank is loose and the surface is rough. Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a ceramic slurry 1 in a one-stage process assembled according to the prior art. As shown in fig. 1, the reason why these problems occur when using the one-stage process is that the solvent 12 in the ceramic slurry 1 on the material placing plate E is instantaneously raised to the vaporization temperature at room temperature, which causes the unpolymerized ceramic powder 11 to be sputtered during the process from the violent movement to the vaporization of the solvent 12, thereby roughening the surface of the ceramic green body 2. The rough surface causes a problem of uneven thickness of the next layer of ceramic slurry 1, so that the formed ceramic green body 2 has a problem of poor structural stability. In addition, in the higher temperature region of the nano-sized ceramic powder 11, the higher the agglomeration density of the nano-sized ceramic powder 11 is, and vice versa. In practical applications, the laser power density is highest at the center of the laser beam and decreases with increasing radius from the center, exhibiting a Gaussian distribution. When the high-power laser light instantaneously heats the surface of the ceramic slurry 1, the energy of the laser light received by the surface layer of the ceramic slurry 1 gradually decreases toward the bottom layer. Therefore, when the temperature gradient between the surface layer and the bottom layer is too large, the agglomerated density of the ceramic powder 11 decreases from the surface layer to the bottom layer, and the bonding strength in the layer is not uniform, so that the delamination problem occurs after molding.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method for forming a ceramic material, which solves the above problems by a multi-stage process. Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating steps of a method for forming a ceramic material according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, in the embodiment of fig. 2, the method for forming the ceramic material comprises the following steps: step S1: providing ceramic slurry, which comprises ceramic powder and a solvent; step S2: paving ceramic slurry; step S3: irradiating and heating a specific area on the ceramic slurry with a first laser beam to perform a first forming process on the ceramic slurry in the specific area; step S4: irradiating and heating the specific area on the ceramic slurry with a second laser beam to perform a second molding process on the ceramic slurry in the specific area, thereby forming a ceramic green body. Wherein the power of the first laser is less than or equal to the power of the second laser.

Referring further to fig. 3 and 4 in combination, fig. 3 is a flow chart of steps according to a further embodiment of fig. 2, and fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart according to fig. 2. The embodiment of fig. 3 is a further description of the first and second molding processes in the embodiment of fig. 2. The first molding process includes the steps of: irradiating a specific area of the ceramic slurry 1 placed on the material placing plate E with first laser light to make the ceramic slurry 1 in the specific area perform a chemical reaction to release water molecules; the water molecules are heated with the first laser light to evaporate the water molecules from the ceramic slurry 1. The second molding process comprises the following steps: irradiating a specific region of the ceramic slurry 1 with a second laser beam to chemically react the ceramic slurry 1 in the specific region without chemical reaction and release water molecules; the water molecules are heated with the second laser light to evaporate the water molecules from the ceramic slurry 1 to form the ceramic green body 2. Wherein the water molecule yield of the first forming process is greater than the water molecule yield of the second forming process.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the forming method of the present invention first irradiates and heats the ceramic slurry 1 in a specific area with a first laser beam with a lower power, so that the ceramic slurry 1 performs a chemical reaction and releases water molecules. Then, the water molecules may be evaporated by heating with the first laser light, thereby further removing the water molecules in the ceramic slurry 1. The ceramic powder 11 in the ceramic slurry 1 after the first laser light heating is kept in a suspended state. Then, the second laser with higher power is used to heat the ceramic slurry 1 in the specific region, so that the ceramic slurry 1 without chemical reaction in the ceramic slurry 1 is subjected to chemical reaction and water molecules are released. And then the water molecules in the ceramic slurry 1 are evaporated by using second laser light heating. In detail, in the ceramic slurry 1 used in the present invention, the solvent 12 further includes a nano metal oxide and an organic solvent, which can be irradiated by the first laser light and the second laser light to generate a sol-gel method including a hydrolysis reaction and a condensation reaction. Therefore, the ceramic slurry 1 of the present invention releases water molecules by condensation reaction. The forming method of the present invention employs a sol-gel method to coat the ceramic powder 11 in the ceramic slurry 1 with gel and to bond the ceramic powder 11 together, thereby increasing the mechanical strength of the ceramic green body 2. In addition, it should be noted that the ceramic slurry 1 used in the method for forming a ceramic material of the present invention can undergo a sol-gel reaction by the irradiation of the first laser light and the second laser light, but in one embodiment, when the irradiation of the first laser light and the second laser light is accompanied by heat, the sol-gel reaction can accelerate the reaction due to the heating of the first laser light and the second laser light. Therefore, the chemical reaction in the method for forming a ceramic material of the present invention may include the irradiation of the first laser light and the second laser light, and both the irradiation and heating of the first laser light and the second laser light.

Since the first forming process is to make most of the ceramic slurry 1 undergo chemical reaction, and the ceramic slurry 1 that has not undergone chemical reaction is completely formed by the second forming process, the ceramic slurry 1 is prevented from containing the ceramic slurry 1 that has not yet been formed, and the structural strength of the ceramic blank 2 is further reduced. Therefore, the amount of water molecules released by the chemical reaction of ceramic slurry 1 in the first molding process is greater than the amount of water molecules released by the chemical reaction of ceramic slurry 1 in the second molding process.

The method comprises irradiating and heating ceramic slurry 1 by increasing laser power to reduce water content of ceramic slurry 1, i.e. solid content of ceramic slurry 1 is increased to avoid sputtering of ceramic powder 11 and improve surface fineness of ceramic green body 2. The irradiation and heating by increasing the power of the laser light can avoid the delamination problem of the ceramic slurry 1 caused by the non-uniform aggregation density of the ceramic powder 11 on the surface layer and the bottom layer due to the over-high temperature difference in the layer, thereby increasing the bonding strength in the layer.

The method of the present invention can also be applied to three-dimensional printing of ceramic materials. Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating steps of a method for forming a ceramic material according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 5, the step S2 further includes a sub-step of: substep S21: laying ceramic slurry on a material placing part of a ceramic material forming device. After the step S4, the method includes a step S5: removing the unshaped ceramic slurry. As shown in fig. 5, the embodiment of fig. 5 is further processed by a lamination process based on the processing steps of fig. 2, and further includes the following steps after step S4: step S61: laying ceramic slurry on the specific area with the ceramic slurry formed to form an nth layer of ceramic slurry; step S62: irradiating and heating the nth specific area on the nth ceramic slurry layer with the first laser beam to perform the first forming process on the nth ceramic slurry layer in the nth specific area; step S63: irradiating and heating the nth specific area on the nth ceramic slurry layer 1 with the second laser beam to perform the second molding process on the nth ceramic slurry layer 1 in the nth specific area, thereby forming the nth ceramic green body 2. Wherein n is an integer of 2 or more. Further, the embodiment of fig. 4 repeats the two-stage process to perform three-dimensional printing, and performs step S5 after the three-dimensional printing is completed to remove the ceramic slurry that is not formed.

In addition to the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, another embodiment is similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, except that after each two-stage process is completed, the un-formed ceramic slurry in the current layer is removed, and then the next layer of ceramic slurry is laid, so as to ensure that the un-formed ceramic slurry is not solidified by the irradiation and heating process of the first laser light and the second laser light in the next layer. In this embodiment, during three-dimensional printing, the cured ceramic slurry in the nth specific region of the nth layer can be connected with the cured ceramic slurry in the nth-1 specific region of the nth layer, and the connected region can be a part of the nth specific region and a part of the nth-1 specific region, so as to obtain a three-dimensional ceramic green body. Wherein, the n-th specific area can be larger than, equal to or smaller than the n-1-th specific area.

In the above embodiments, the solid content of the unheated ceramic slurry is between 50% and 80%, i.e., the water content of the ceramic slurry is between 20% and 50%. In one embodiment, after the first laser light is irradiated and heated, the water content of the ceramic slurry is less than the water content of the ceramic slurry which is not irradiated and heated. In a preferred embodiment, the water content of the ceramic slurry is between 6% and 15% after the first laser light irradiation and heating. In a more preferred embodiment, the water content of the ceramic slurry is between 10% and 15% after the first laser light irradiation and heating.

In one embodiment, after the second laser light irradiation and heating, the water content of the ceramic slurry is less than the water content of the ceramic slurry before the second laser light irradiation and heating. In a preferred embodiment, the water content of the ceramic slurry after the second laser light irradiation and heating is between 1% and 5%.

In addition, the method for forming the ceramic material of the present invention employs two stages of successive irradiation and heating, however, it should be understood that one skilled in the art can achieve the same effect as the present invention by performing successive irradiation and heating for more stages as required, and the method is not limited to two stages. For example: in one embodiment, the ceramic green body is formed by first irradiating and heating with 10 watts (W) of first laser light, then irradiating and heating the ceramic slurry with 20 watts (W) of second laser light, and finally irradiating and heating the ceramic slurry with 40 watts (W) of third laser light. In yet another embodiment, the irradiation and heating of the ceramic slurry with the first laser beam of 10 watts (W) and the second irradiation and heating of the ceramic slurry with the second laser beam of 35 watts (W) are repeated twice to form the ceramic green body.

In addition, the reason why the method does not use the ceramic slurry with higher solid content at the beginning is that if the water content of the ceramic slurry is too low, the ceramic powder in the ceramic slurry is easily agglomerated and cannot be uniformly dispersed in the solvent, thereby causing the poor structural stability of the formed ceramic green body. Furthermore, when the ceramic slurry with lower solid content is heated and formed in one stage, the temperature will rise instantaneously, resulting in loose structure and rough surface of the ceramic blank. In addition, the ceramic slurry with higher solid content has too high viscosity to be easy to flow to be flat and is easy to be mixed with bubbles.

Wherein the ceramic powder of the ceramic slurry comprises at least one of silica particles, silicon carbide particles, silicon nitride particles, titanium dioxide particles, zirconium dioxide particles, and aluminum oxide particles. The ceramic powder may be of the nano-scale, with a particle size between 50 and 50000 nm. In addition, the ceramic slurry can be added with a copolymer material besides the ceramic powder and the solvent, so as to improve the adhesive strength of the cured ceramic green body. The copolymer material comprises polylactic acid (PLA),

poly-L/D-lactate (pldla), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), chitin (Chitosan), sodium Alginate (Alginate acid), Gelatin (Gelatin), and polyethylene glycol (poly (ethylene oxide), PEG), and the like.

In the above embodiments, the first laser light and the second laser light have the same wavelength, the wavelength ranges from about 1500 nm to about 20000nm, and the light source types of the first laser light and the second laser light include carbon dioxide laser, Nd: one of YAG laser, He-Cd laser, argon laser and UV laser. One skilled in the art can select the type of laser light source according to the requirement or the existing equipment conditions, but not limited thereto. In addition, the power of the first laser light is between 1 and 10 Watts (W), in one embodiment, the implementation speed is between 30 and 500mm/s, and in a preferred embodiment, the implementation speed is between 30 and 300 mm/s. The power of the second laser light is between 5 and 40 watts (W), and in one embodiment, the speed is between 100 and 1000mm/s, and in a preferred embodiment, the speed is between 100 and 600 mm/s. It should be understood that one skilled in the art can adjust the performing speed of the first laser and the second laser according to the thickness of the ceramic slurry to be heated, and the invention is not limited thereto.

Referring to fig. 6 to 8, fig. 6 is a schematic view showing an apparatus of a ceramic material forming apparatus 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention, fig. 7 is a schematic view showing an operation of the ceramic material forming apparatus 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 8 is a schematic view showing an operation of the ceramic material forming apparatus 3 according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 6 to 8, the forming method of the ceramic material of the present invention can be implemented by the following forming apparatus 3, and the forming principle is the same as the forming method described above, and will not be described again. The forming apparatus 3 includes a lifting device 31, a feeding device 32, and a laser device 33. The lifting device 31 includes a material placing member 311 and a lifting member 312. The material placing part 311 is used to provide a region for placing the ceramic slurry 1. The lifting member 312 is coupled to the material placing member 311, and the lifting member 312 is used to lift or lower the material placing member 311. The feeding device 32 is disposed above the material placing member 311, and the feeding device 32 is used for supplying the ceramic slurry 1 onto the material placing member 311. The laser device 33 is disposed above the lifting device 31, and the laser device 33 is used to irradiate and heat the ceramic slurry 1 with the first laser light 331 and the second laser light 332 with different powers. Wherein, the laser device 33 can control the movement paths of the first laser 331 and the second laser 332, so that the movement paths of the first laser 331 and the second laser 332 can be adjusted corresponding to the material placing part 311, so that the first laser 331 and the second laser 332 emitted by the laser device 33 can irradiate and heat the ceramic slurry 1 in a specific region. In practical applications, the laser device 33 utilizes the movement of the vibrating mirror to move the first laser 331 and the second laser 332 emitted from the laser source of the laser device 33 to a specific area. In one embodiment, the forming apparatus 3 may include more than one laser device 33 to provide the first laser light 331 and the second laser light 332 with different powers, respectively. In yet another embodiment, the laser device 33 may include more than one laser light source to provide the first laser light 331 and the second laser light 332 with different powers, respectively.

In addition, in order to ensure the smooth laying of the ceramic slurry 1, a scraper 34 may be further included to scrape the surface of the ceramic slurry 1 after laying. As shown in fig. 7, the supply device 32 lays the ceramic slurry 1 on the material placing member 311, and the scraper 34 scrapes the surface of the ceramic slurry 1 to the same height. Then, the first laser light 331 and the second laser light 332 are respectively emitted to the ceramic slurry 1 in sequence by the laser device 33 to irradiate the ceramic slurry 1 and cause a chemical reaction to proceed. Wherein, the first laser light 331 and the second laser light 332 are also heated in the irradiation process, and further evaporate water molecules released by the chemical reaction of the ceramic slurry 1, so that the ceramic slurry 1 is formed into a ceramic green body 2.

As shown in fig. 8, when three-dimensional printing of ceramic material is to be performed, the lifting device 31 can be lowered by a specific height to allow the feeding device 32 to stack the nth layer of ceramic slurry 1 on the formed ceramic green body 2, and then the steps described in the embodiment of fig. 7 are repeated to form the nth layer of ceramic slurry 1 into the nth layer of ceramic green body 2.

Compared with the prior art, the forming method and the forming device of the ceramic material of the invention irradiate and heat the laser more than twice, and can use the same or different laser power during irradiation and heating according to the design of the product so as to control the strength change, the fineness or the surface roughness of the ceramic finished product. Wherein the first laser light with low power can avoid the problem of surface material splashing as in the prior art, and can avoid the larger surface pores. However, since the low-power first laser light energy is not enough to completely shape the ceramic slurry at one irradiation and heating stage, the ceramic slurry can be completely shaped by irradiating and heating the first laser light with low power for multiple times, or irradiating and heating the first laser light with high power for one or multiple times and then irradiating and heating the second laser light with high power. In conclusion, the forming method of the present invention can improve the structural stability and surface fineness of the cured ceramic green body, and the uniformity of the layer thickness and the bonding strength in the layer during three-dimensional printing. In addition, the molding equipment of the invention can be used for molding and preparing large objects.

The foregoing detailed description of the embodiments is intended to more clearly illustrate the features and spirit of the invention, and not to limit the scope of the invention by the embodiments disclosed above. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of forming a ceramic material, comprising the steps of:

providing a ceramic slurry, which comprises a ceramic powder and a solvent;

laying the ceramic slurry;

irradiating and heating a specific area on the ceramic slurry with a first laser beam to perform a first forming process on the ceramic slurry in the specific area; and

irradiating and heating the specific area on the ceramic slurry with a second laser beam to perform a second molding process on the ceramic slurry in the specific area, thereby forming a ceramic green body;

wherein the power of the first laser is less than or equal to the power of the second laser.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of applying said ceramic slurry further comprises the sub-steps of:

laying the ceramic slurry on a material placing part of a ceramic material forming device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the step of irradiating and heating the specific area on the ceramic slurry with the second laser light to perform the second molding process on the ceramic slurry in the specific area, thereby forming the ceramic green body, the method further comprises a step of:

removing the ceramic slurry that is not formed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of the first forming process further comprises the steps of:

irradiating the specific area of the ceramic slurry with the first laser light to perform a chemical reaction on the ceramic slurry in the specific area to release water molecules; and

heating the water molecules with the first laser light to evaporate the water molecules from the ceramic slurry;

in the step of the second molding process, the method further comprises the following steps:

irradiating the specific region of the ceramic slurry with the second laser light to chemically react the ceramic slurry in the specific region without chemical reaction and release water molecules; and

heating the water molecules with the second laser light to evaporate the water molecules from the ceramic slurry to form the ceramic green body;

wherein the water molecule yield of the first forming process is greater than the water molecule yield of the second forming process, and the chemical reaction comprises at least one of a hydrolysis reaction, a condensation reaction, and a polymerization reaction.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the water content of the ceramic slurry in the specific region after the first laser light is heated and evaporated is less than the water content of the ceramic slurry before the first laser light is heated and evaporated, and the water content of the ceramic slurry after the first laser light is heated and evaporated is between 6% and 15%.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the water content of the ceramic slurry in the specific region after the second laser light heating evaporation is less than the water content of the ceramic slurry before the second laser light heating evaporation, and the water content of the ceramic slurry after the second laser light heating evaporation is between 1% and 5%.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said first laser has a power in the range of 1 to 10 watts (W) and said second laser has a power in the range of 5 to 40 watts (W).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first laser light has the same wavelength as the second laser light and the wavelength ranges from 1500 to 20000 nm.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the ceramic powder has a particle size of 50 to 50000 nm.

10. A molding apparatus for ceramic materials for three-dimensional printing, the molding apparatus comprising:

the lifting device is provided with a material placing part and a lifting part, the material placing part is used for providing a ceramic slurry placing area, the lifting part is coupled with the material placing part, and the lifting part is used for lifting or lowering the material placing part;

a feeding device arranged above the material placing part, wherein the feeding device is used for providing a ceramic slurry to the material placing part; and

a laser device disposed above the lifting device, the laser device being used to emit a first laser beam and a second laser beam of different powers to irradiate and heat the ceramic slurry;

the laser device controls the action paths of the first laser and the second laser, so that the action paths of the first laser and the second laser can be adjusted corresponding to the material placing part, and the first laser and the second laser emitted by the laser device irradiate and heat the ceramic slurry in the specific area.