Aqueous Additive Production Method for the Fabrication of Ceramic And/or Metallic Bodies

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This patent discloses a new additive manufacturing method for creating 3D ceramic and/or metallic bodies, primarily for advanced nuclear fuel fabrication. The process uses an aqueous internal gelation technique combined with precise 3D inkjet printing to locally control the composition and porosity of the fabricated object. The method enables production of complex structures such as nuclear fuel pellets with customized internal features and compositional gradients, while minimizing dust and enabling safe remote production, even with highly radioactive materials.

Use CasesContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Fabrication of advanced nuclear fuel pellets for reactors, including those with locally tailored isotope or actinide content.
• Production of accident-tolerant fuels (ATF) for improved nuclear reactor safety.
• Manufacture of complex ceramic or metallic components with precise porosity and composition gradients for structural or functional applications.
• Production of nuclear fuel with sealed fuel cells or honeycomb structures to improve containment and performance.
• Creation of 3D printed parts for fission fragment reactors or other advanced reactor designs requiring intricate fuel architectures.
• Production of specialized ceramics or metallic components for industries beyond nuclear, such as aerospace or electronics, where local variation in properties is desired.

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• Greatly reduces dust generation, making the process safer and more suitable for handling radioactive or toxic substances in shielded (hot-cell) environments.
• Enables precise, layer-by-layer customization of composition (including isotopic content) and porosity within a single component, allowing for advanced functional grading.
• Allows fabrication of highly complex geometries and internal structures that are difficult or impossible using traditional powder-based or casting methods.
• Supports rapid, flexible, and automated production with reduced risk of material accumulation, contamination, or criticality incidents.
• Improves potential for accident tolerance in nuclear fuels by enabling designs with enhanced structural, thermal, and barrier properties (e.g. honeycomb, porous layers).
• Can accommodate fast reactor or transmutation requirements by enabling detailed spatial control of actinide or dopant distribution.
• Provides a scalable platform for both research and industrial manufacturing of next-generation nuclear and high-performance ceramic/metal components.

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Inventors & Applicants

Patent Abstract

The present invention discloses a method for producing a green body (9a to 9c) for an 3D ceramic and/or metallic body, it aims at improving the internal gelation process combined with an implementation of the 3D inkjet printing technique for ceramics or metals in order to enable the fabrication of various complex 3D ceramic or metal bodies, such as nuclear fuel pellets and the like.