Crack-healing, a Novel Approach for a Laser-based Powder Bed Fusion of High-performance Ceramic Oxides

Abstract Laser-based powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) of ceramic materials have not been developed sufficiently. The process-induced crack formation is the key challenge of the associated additive manufacturing method, which prevents its successful industrial implementation. Therefore, we have adopted a strategy to accept crack formation as an inherent characteristic of the manufacturing process while enhancing the mechanical properties of the parts by repairing the cracks using a thermal post-processing.