Ceramic 3D Printed Earrings
November 2019
Using nTopology and Solidworks softwares, as well as Formlabs 3D printers, I designed and printed a latticed geometry using Formlabs ceramic resin. The project consisted of first designing the shape on Solidworks, latticing in nTopology, then printing numerous iterations, firing to a "halfway fired" point, and finally glazing and firing the printed parts to completion using a kiln. Since the process is not completely well known or published by Formlabs, determining the firing and glazing settings to create successful finished parts is a challenge that I worked to investigate with this project. At the end of the trials, I observed that the latticed geometry seemed to collapse in on itself after glazing and firing, which I believe may be due to the shrinkage effect of ceramic resin. A potential explanation is that the presence of holes within a part printed in ceramic resin may cause the shrinkage effect to magnify. Next steps in this project could include printing the same part without a lattice, glaze and fire to completion, and observe the shrinkage effects and whether the parts collapse in on themselves in the same way they have been observed to when a lattice has been applied.
Trial 1 Post Firing
Firing was done after printing the parts. To be able to fire the parts, I designed and printed a cup to elevate the parts off of the floor of the kiln to ensure that the entire part would be fired, since the parts touching the floor would not get fired. After placing each of the parts into a cup, I brushed kiln wash over the parts and the cups to ensure none of the ceramic would stick to anything it was in contact with. Once these steps were complete, the kiln was heated and firing occurred. The photo at the right shows the parts before they were fired and after applying kiln wash.
A Finished Earring
Glazing of the first trial of parts was unsuccessful, since the kiln was unable to reach the heat needed to achieve the expected color and glossiness. Though this was disappointing, I still was able to attach earring hooks to the first trial of parts and make them into earrings! I kept a pair for myself, which is shown at the image to the left, and gave the other pairs away to friends and family as holiday presents :)
Trial 2: Glazing
For Trial 2, I wanted to play around with the kiln settings and type/concentration of glaze I used to attempt to make a successfully fired and glazed batch. I printed another batch of parts on a Form 2 printer, fired them partially, and then applied glaze before firing them to completion. Shown at the left is a little glazing apparatus I made out of wire and paper clips to hold the parts up while the glaze dried. After applying 3 coats of Cone 6 high fire glaze and allowing the parts to dry completely, I placed them into cups covered in dried kiln wash, and began the firing process. In Trial 2, I reprogrammed the kiln to ensure no errors would occur during firing and that the kiln would reach the expected temperature to fire the parts to completion.
Trial 2 Completion: A Work in Progress
After firing the second batch of parts, the glaze set but strangely the parts seemed to disappear into thin air, leaving only small globs of glaze in the cups. This result most likely means that the kiln was able to reach the needed temperature to glaze the ceramic resin, but that part design may have caused the ceramic resin to collapse within itself and shrink substantially during firing. A potential problem with part design could be the presence of holes within the latticed design, which may increase the typical shrinkage effect that normally occurs when firing Formlabs ceramic resin. Potential next steps in the progress of this experiment could be to glaze solid ceramic parts (lattice free but same geometry) at the same kiln and glaze settings and same size and study the effects on the part. Also, testing the same part (lattice applied) scaled up significantly and monitoring the effect of firing could also be interesting.