Rapid prototyping of porcelain products by layer-wise slurry deposition (LSD) and direct laser sintering

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to study the rapid prototyping of porcelain products by using layer-wise slurry deposition (LSD), in order to reduce the time to market of new or customized porcelain products or artworks. Design/methodology/approach - The properties such as phase composition, microstructure, shrinkage, density, and mechanical strength, of laser sintered (LS) and biscuit fired (BF) samples, before and after post sintering in a furnace, were studied and compared with each other. Findings - The laser sintered sample was comparable with the biscuit fired sample in porosity, but had just half the mechanical strength of the latter due to the layer-wise fabrication process. The feasibility of rapid prototyping of porcelain products was validated by the successful fabrication of some porcelain samples, which showed that the relatively low mechanical strength of the laser sintered sample was still high enough for the following handling processes, such as surface glazing and glost firing. Originality/value - The paper demonstrates the possibility of rapid prototyping of porcelain components and the models produced by using LSD process.