Multi-Material Lithography-Based Printing of 3YSZ-SiC for Regolith Wear Resistance

Lunar exploration missions face significant challenges related to material durability of exploration systems due to the highly abrasive and adhesivenature of lunar regolith. Ceramic materials can be designed to provide passive wear protection against lunar dust. In this study, Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing(LCM) is used to fabricate 3mol% yttria- stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) laminates with silicon carbide (SiC) additives, and the effects of drying, debinding and sintering profiles on density, shrinkage, warpage, phase content and surface roughness are quantified. Optical imaging and image analysis show a fine, nearly uniform SiC dispersion in the green body, while profilometry and dimensional measurements reveal approximately 22% linear shrinkage from printed to sintered coupons accompanied by the development of distortion and localized outgassing in the final sintering step, yielding surface roughness values ranging from 2.92-4.01 µm. Mass measurements indicate a total mass loss of about 22%,concentrated during debinding. The Raman spectroscopy shows that an initially mixed tetragonal-monoclinic 3YSZ matrix evolves to a fully tetragonal structure after sintering. These processing-composition relationships provide guidance for tuning LCM thermal profiles and compositions to obtain dense, geometrically stable 3YSZ-SiC ceramics suitable for integration into regolith-resistant components for lunar surface systems.