Strength testing of additive manufactured ceramics - A round robin using the CharAM-methodology

A total of 48 CharAM-specimens were manufactured by four partners in three specimen configurations. Thermal post-processing and testing was conducted at a single partner to minimize other processing variation. The geometry and strength of more than 2000 cantilevers (48 cantilevers per CharAM-specimen) were analyzed. It is shown that each partner managed to fabricate specimens with exceptional geometrical consistency, even though significant differences were present between partners. Likewise, the strength of each configuration was alike for several specimens of one partner but deviated from that of other partners. Thus, it is demonstrated that the CharAM-methodology is sufficiently accurate to determine differences between specimens manufactured with slightly varying manufacturing processes or specimens manufactured at different production sites. Through the introduction of an automated geometry evaluation, a large amount of strength and geometry data for additively manufactured materials can be obtained with comparatively low effort.