Enhanced Curing and Electrical Properties of Additively Manufactured PZT Piezoelectric Ceramics by Multi-component Composite Resins

Vat photopolymerization (VPP) is extensively employed in rapidly processing complex ceramic components owing to its efficiency and high-precision process attributes. However, the significant refractive index of Pb (Zr, Ti) O 3 (PZT)piezoelectric ceramic powder presents challenges for VPP in printing high-precision and complex PZT ceramic components. This article proposes a design strategy for a multi-component functional composite resin with high stability and curing strength. Through optimized resin composition regulation, the single-layer curing thickness of PZT slurry improves from 48 μm to 75 μm (56.25% enhancement), while achieving a 97.72% curing degree from an initial 56.76%. The resultant PZT ceramics exhibit excellent interlayer bonding and high relative density of 98.26%, and the piezoelectric coefficient can reach up to 452 pC/N. Finally, the PZT-based triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) piezoelectric sensor is successfully fabricated, which demonstrates excellent force-to-electricity conversion capability. This study provides valuable insights for the VPP processing of other non-oxide ceramics.