Effects of UV Absorber on Zirconia Fabricated with Digital Light Processing Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of UV absorbers on the dimensional accuracy of zirconia specimens fabricated by additive manufacturing using a digital light process. Zirconia suspension for additive manufacturing was prepared by setting the volume fractions (0, 0.005, 0.05, and 0.1%) of various UV absorbers. The effect of UV absorber content was evaluated through curing thickness, geometric overgrowth model design, linear deviation, and microstructure evaluation before and after sintering. Statistical analysis was performed by Kruskal–Wallis H and post-tested by the Bonferroni correction method. There was no significant difference in the cure depth according to the presence or absence of the UV absorber, the difference in geometric overgrowth was from 2.1 to 12.5%, and the overgrowth significantly decreased as the amount of added UV absorber increased. This result may contribute to improved precision of 3D multilayer ceramic products.

Keywords

• UV absorbers
• zirconia
• additive manufacturing
• cure depth
• geometric overgrowth