Effect of light attenuation on curing performance of ZrO₂ ceramic for stereolithography

Abstract The attenuation coefficient of ultraviolet UV light is a critical factor influencing the mechanical properties of photocurable ceramics. Aiming to fabricate high-precision and high-performance ZrO 2 ceramics, this study systematically investigates the impact of the UV attenuation coefficient on the polymerization kinetics of ZrO 2 ceramic slurries. Through linear fitting, the absorption and scattering coefficients of the ZrO 2 slurry were determined as 66 cm −1 . By integrating the Beer-Lambert law, we further validated how the UV attenuation coefficient affects the variation in C=C double bond conversion within the cured slurry layers. Additionally, based on Mie scattering theory, although the incident energy was 52 mW cm −2 and slice thickness was 50 μm, the curing depth C d and exposure energy <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>I</mml:mi> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>E</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>o</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> is optimal. The ZrO 2 ceramic was formed , in which the sintered sample density was 6.02 g cm −3 (99%).