Microfabrication of Li₄SiO₄ pebbles with complex pore structure via digital light processing: Accuracy control and properties optimizing

Li4SiO4 ceramic pebble is deemed as the most attractive tritium breeder for fusion reactor blanket. In this work, we fabricated a novel Li4SiO4 pebble with micrometer-scale pore structure by digital light processing to verify the feasibility of complex pore structure manufacturing for future breeders. The effects of processing parameters on printing accuracy, microstructure and mechanical properties of Li4SiO4 pebbles were investigated. For synthesizing the pure Li4SiO4 phase, the optimal stoichiometric ratio of Li2SiO3 to Li2CO3 was 1:1.09 in the premixed powder. The photosensitivity of dual-phase ceramic suspension was investigated according to an attenuation model, and the overgrowth was reduced to similar to 50 mu m by using the dimension formula. After optimizing the post-processing, the radial pore structure Li4SiO4 pebbles with excellent crush load (50.3 N, standard deviation = 4.4 N) and suitable open porosity (18.3 %) can be yielded. This work provides a fresh solution to control the pore structure of tritium breeding pebbles in an unprecedented micrometer scale.