Preliminary Investigation on the Application of 4D Printed Ceramic Precursor in Customized Jewelry

Four-dimensional (4D) printing technology has gradually become a hotspot in the field of additive manufacturing research.This technology utilizes special intelligent printing material on the basis of 3D printing, so the physical properties could be changed in a predictable way even after printing. In this paper, a new type of elastic ceramic precursor material was used as the 4D printing material, and the suitable slurry concentration was determined by the printing performance test. The ceramic precursor material model was printed by Direct Ink Writing (DIW). After the curing, it was sintered at a suitable temperature on the basis of thermogravimetry. The tensile strength, micro-morphology and shrinkage of the cured and sintered samples were analyzed. It was found that the cured materials have good flexibility and stretchability, fine structure and uniform shrinkage after sintering, which can theoretically make a fine and smooth structure. The shape of the material can be changed after 3D printing and curing, which breaks through the limitation of commonly used solid materials and makes the finished product more designable, thus can be employed to make jewelry more suitable and wearable for human body. The material itself will become hard during sintering, and its durability and aesthetics will be greatly improved. It is a suitable material for jewelry and this experiment provide smore possibilities for customized jewelry.