Effects of ZrSiO4 content on properties of SiO2-based ceramics prepared by digital light processing

SiO₂-based ceramic cores are widely used in the preparation of gas turbine engine hollow blades due to their excellent chemical stability and easy removal after casting. In this paper, ZrSiO₄ reinforced SiO₂-based ceramics were fabricated using digital light processing (DLP) technology. The results showed that the addition of ZrSiO₄ reduced the cure depth due to its high UV light absorptivity and refractive index. When the content of ZrSiO₄ increased to 15 wt%, the cristobalite content reached the maximum, and radial shrinkage reached the minimum of 1.4%. ZrSiO₄ grains could hinder the propagation of cracks, enhancing the room-temperature flexural strength. At 1550 °C, fracturing across SiO₂ grains in SiO₂-based ceramics led to the great improvement of high-temperature flexural strength. When the content of ZrSiO₄ reached 15 wt%, the flexural strength at room temperature and high temperature was 11.5 MPa and 36.7 MPa, respectively. Therefore, the SiO₂-based ceramics prepared using DLP technology have good room temperature and high temperature properties, and are expected to be used for hollow blade casting.