In March, our ERA talent Dr. Si Chen successfully participated in Ceramics Crash Course II, led by Mr. Thomas Prochaska, materials engineer at Lithoz GmbH. During the course, Mr. Prochaska provided a rough introduction to the research and development process and characteristics of 3D printing slurries, containing different raw materials such as aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, zirconia, silica, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, hydroxyapatite, and tricalcium phosphate, etc., produced by Lithoz GmbH.

While introducing each type of slurry, Thomas also presented the ceramic objects printed with the slurry and introduced their intended purposes. During this lecture, Si gained insights into the business model of Lithoz GmbH, which combines equipment (printers) with customized slurry R&D.

During March 2025, Si printed and preconditioned more than 80 pieces of green body of borate bioactive glass scaffolds with a gyroid structure. These green bodies were then sent to the FunGlass center for debinding and sintering to obtain borate bioactive glass scaffolds. In addition, Si also started experimenting with adding mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles to 3D printing raw materials. His goal is to increase their proportion to up to one-third of the volume of the main raw material, the borate bioactive glass.

We wish Dr. Si Chen further progress in his experiments and cannot wait to receiving new updates!