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Researchers at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are developing a reference material, a carefully engineered zirconia slurry, to help ceramic 3D printing produce consistent, reliable parts. The problem it targets is deceptively basic: the wet ceramic feedstocks used to print are notoriously hard to measure accurately, and without a trustworthy way to check that measurement, printed ceramics vary from run to run. The material could eventually become an official NIST standard, giving the field a shared yardstick for one of its trickiest steps.
The work, led by NIST materials scientist Russell Maier alongside colleagues Ran Tao and Samuel Hales, matters because ceramics are moving from niche to critical. Technical ceramics such as alumina and zirconia are lightweig