Microfabrication of Li4SiO4 pebbles with complex pore structure via digital light processing: Accuracy control and properties optimizing

Li 4 SiO 4 ceramic pebble is deemed as the most attractive tritium breeder for fusion reactor blanket. In this work, we fabricated a novel Li 4 SiO 4 pebble with micrometer-scale pore structure by digital light processing to verify the feasibility of complex pore structure manufacturing for future breeders. The effects of processing parameters on printing accuracy, microstructure and mechanical properties of Li 4 SiO 4 pebbles were investigated. For synthesizing the pure Li 4 SiO 4 phase, the optimal stoichiometric ratio of Li 2 SiO 3 to Li 2 CO 3 was 1:1.09 in the premixed powder. The photosensitivity of dual-phase ceramic suspension was investigated according to an attenuation model, and the overgrowth was reduced to ∼50 μm by using the dimension formula. After optimizing the post-processing, the radial pore structure Li 4 SiO 4 pebbles with excellent crush load (50.3 N, standard deviation = 4.4 N) and suitable open porosity (18.3 %) can be yielded. This work provides a fresh solution to control the pore structure of tritium breeding pebbles in an unprecedented micrometer scale.