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Additive Manufacturing of Lotus-Root-Inspired Honeycomb Ceramics: Implications for Oil/Water Separation and Cigar Smoke Filtration
Xiaokang Zhao1, Hao Yin2,3, Pengfei Zhu3,4, Jing Che1, Lei Han1, Guangyuan Yang1, Congxin Chen1
1 China Tobacco Hubei Industrial, LLC,Wuhan 430000, China.
2 Chongqing University, Shapingba 174, Chongqing, China.
3 FoShan (Southern China) Institute for New Materials, Foshan 528000, P. R. China.
4 Shenzhen Adventure Tech Co. Ltd., Shenzhen 518053, PR China
March 04, 2025, June 17, 2025, July 01, 2025
Vol. 16, No. 4, Pages 1-8 DOI: 10.4416/JCST2025-00007
Abstract
In this study, lotus-root-inspired honeycomb alumina ceramics were fabricated using digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing technology, and a systematic investigation was conducted to determine the rheological characteristics of the alumina slurry and the mechanical properties of the sintered ceramics. Their potential applications in oil-water separation and cigar smoke filtration fields were explored. The experimental results showed that the viscosity of the 82 wt% Al2O3 ceramic slurry was 2 615 mPa·s at a shear rate of 30 s1, and the alumina ceramics sintered at 1 750 °C can resist high temperature with excellent mechanical properties: the three-point bending strength was 236 MPa, the compressive strength was 595 MPa, the Vickers hardness was 14.7 GPa, and the density was 3.77 g/cm³. In the oil-water separation experiment, the surface-modified honeycomb alumina ceramics were able to separate the oil-water mixture with high efficiency. When acting as one part of the cigar smoke filtration, the honeycomb ceramic provided support and sieved large particles out of the smoke. The filtration efficiencies for nicotine, total particulate matter, and tar reached 93.4 %, 91.7 %, and 89.7 %, respectively. In summary, high-performance honeycomb alumina ceramics were successfully prepared with 3D printing and showed broad application prospects in the separation field.
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Keywords
Digital light processing, alumina ceramics, oil/water separation, cigar smoke filtration
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