Additive manufacturing and characterisation of silicon carbide components fabricated using material extrusion-based fused filament fabrication

<p dir="ltr">Silicon carbide as a non-oxide technical ceramic material is renowned for its exceptional mechanical properties, high-temperature and corrosion resistance, and outstanding electrical and thermal properties. However, its inherent physical properties and processing temperature requirements make it a challenging material to realise shape complexity and densification. This paper presents a material extrusion-based fused filament fabrication additive manufacturing method for fabricating complex silicon carbide parts and investigates the effect of sintering temperature on the physical properties and microstructure of sintered parts. Optimal densification was achieved through sintering at 2200 ◦C for 2 h under argon inert atmosphere, resulting in a density of <i>ρ </i>=3.07 ± 0.02 g cm^{− 3} (_{<em>ρrel</em>} = 96 ±0.6 % TD), a Vickers microhardness of <i>HV</i>_{<em>1/10</em>}<i> </i>= 2744 ± 20 (26.9 ±0.2 GPa), a flexural strength of _{<em>σf </em>}= 310 ± 73 MPa and an elastic modulus of <i>E</i> = 410 ± 23 GPa. These results indicate that the proposed 3D printing method is a very promising approach for functional prototyping and low-volume production of near-full-density SiC functional components for various applications.</p>