Characterization of the physics of photopolymer curing and formulation effects of highly filled slurries during additive ceramic core manufacture

A single ultraviolet flash can lock a liquid ceramic slurry into a solid, precisely shaped component—but the physics of that split-second curing process is poorly understood, and that ignorance leads to warped parts and wasted material. This research tackles a hidden bottleneck in additive manufacturing: the production of ceramic cores used to cast hollow channels inside turbine blades for jet engines and power generators. Current methods struggle to balance fine feature resolution with dimensional stability because the curing step introduces unpredictable residual stresses that distort the part during later heating and sintering. The team will develop laboratory tests and computer models that track how ultraviolet light, slurry composition, and machine settings interact to create those stresses, and how they affect interlayer bonding and shrinkage. If the models work, manufacturers could predict and compensate for distortion before printing begins—cutting trial-and-error waste and enabling thinner, more complex internal cooling passages. That would improve turbine efficiency, reduce fuel burn, and lower emissions in aviation and power generation. The work is applied, not fundamental: it directly targets a specific industrial process, but the mechanistic understanding of photopolymer curing in highly filled ceramics could also transfer to other additive-manufacturing contexts.