Storage stability and rheological aging of photocurable alumina suspensions for digital light processing

Sokola, Patrik (author), Polívka, Benedikt (author), Švec, Jiří (author), Menčík, Přemysl (author), Skalar, Tina (author), Marinšek, Marjan (author), Sedlačík, Martin (author), Březina, Matěj (author), Markusík, David (author), Ptáček, Petr (author)

The long-term storage stability of photocurable alumina suspensions is a critical factor in Digital Light Processing (DLP), yet conventional sedimentation tests provide only limited information about future changes in suspension behavior. This work evaluates analytical centrifugation (LUMiSizer) as a rapid tool for assessing the stability of alumina suspensions stabilized with Disperbyk-103 and Disperbyk-111 dispersants. Rheological measurements, aging tests, and characterization of sintered specimens showed that suspensions with lower instability indices exhibited significantly smaller changes during storage and yielded more reproducible properties after sintering. In particular, the Disperbyk-111 system remained largely unchanged after 20 days of storage, whereas the Disperbyk-103 suspension underwent pronounced rheological aging accompanied by lower density and greater shrinkage after sintering. The results indicate that the instability index obtained by analytical centrifugation provides a useful screening indicator of suspension stability during storage and may serve as a practical tool for selecting dispersant formulations for DLP-based ceramic processing.

• Language: English
• Keywords: alumina, rheology, sedimentation, instability index, ceramic suspension, DLP printing, sintered density
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FKKT - Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 17 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 9, iss. 9, art. 99
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-188612
• UDC: 666.762.11
• ISSN on article: 2571-6131
• DOI: 10.3390/ceramics9090099
• COBISS.SI-ID: 290977027
• Publication date in RUL: 24.09.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Ceramics
• Shortened title: Ceramics
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2571-6131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 31835943

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: alumina, reologija, sedimentacija, indeks nestabilnosti, keramične suspenzije, DLP tiskanje, gostota sintranja

Projects

• Funder: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic
• Project number: FCH-S-26-9028

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: I0-0022
• Name: Mreža raziskovalnih infrastrukturnih centrov Univerze v Ljubljani (MRIC UL)