Fabrication of Li2TiO3 pebbles by a selective laser sintering process

Lithium titanate, Li2TiO3, is an important tritium breeding material for deuterium (D)-tritium (T) fusion reactor. In test blanket module (TBM) design of China, Li2TiO3 is considered as one candidate material of tritium breeders. In this study, selective laser sintering (SLS) technology was introduced to fabricate Li2TiO3 ceramic pebbles. This fabrication process is computer assisted and has a high level of flexibility. Li2TiO3 powder with a particle size of 1-3 μm was used as the raw material, whilst epoxy resin E06 was adopted as a binder. Green Li2TiO3 pebbles with certain strengths were successfully prepared via SLS. Density of the green pebbles was subsequently increased by cold isostatic pressing (CIP) process. Li2TiO3 pebbles with a diameter of about 2 mm were obtained after high temperature sintering. Density of the pebbles reaches 80% of theoretical density (TD) with a comparable crush load of 43 N. This computer assisted approach provides a new efficient route for the production of Li2TiO3 ceramic pebbles.