Ceramics 3D printing supplier 3DCeram Sinto and French ceramic specialist Avignon Ceramic have released a video detailing their ceramic 3D printing partnership for producing cores used in aerospace investment casting. The video walks through how the two companies developed a joint process to produce ceramic cores with geometries that conventional injection molding cannot achieve.
Avignon Ceramic specializes in ceramic injection molding (CIM) to produce ceramic cores for investment casting. These components serve demanding sectors including aerospace and gas turbines, with customers such as Howmet, Rolls-Royce, and Safran.
CIM has limits when it comes to intricate geometries, including double- or triple-skin cores that cannot be injected using conventional methods. That gap pushed Avignon Ceramic to begin developing ceramic 3D printing capabilities in 2017, a move that eventually led to a partnership with 3DCeram Sinto.
Printing process and equipment
In the video, Juile Josso, a Materials Chemical Engineer at Avignon Ceramic, explains the company’s use of 3DCeram’s C100 Easy 3D printer. The machine offers a range of adjustable parameters, allowing for varied print outputs while meeting industrial specifications. Its top-down SLA process produces parts that closely match CAD models and avoids issues such as delamination or warping. Avignon Ceramic describes the system as straightforward to operate, requiring limited maintenance for regular use in an industrial setting.
Combining materials expertise
The partnership pairs Avignon Ceramic’s background in minerals and core production with 3DCeram’s experience in organic binders used in 3D printing. Together, the two companies developed a printable ceramic core paste for SLA, suited to directional solidification (DS) and single-crystal (SX) casting.
Mold design and fabrication that previously took weeks or months can now be completed, printed, fired, and finished within two weeks, according to the companies. Design changes can be implemented within hours. In 2025, this turnaround led an undisclosed major aerospace company to adopt the 3D printing approach for a test involving military parts, a project that was later moved into small-series production.
The companies say the collaboration will continue with the goal of overseeing the full production chain, from raw material to finished part, with attention to mechanical strength, dimensional accuracy, and surface finish.
A broader push to move casting cores beyond injection molding
The 3DCeram Sinto and Avignon Ceramic partnership addresses a limitation in ceramic injection molding: double- or triple-skin core geometries that simply cannot be injected. The goal is faster development cycles and design changes without new tooling.
Other manufacturers are pursuing similar routes. Safran Aircraft Engines has moved toward serial production of complex casting cores using Lithoz’s ceramic 3D printing technology, aiming to meet the high cooling demands of next-generation turbine blades that conventional injection-molded cores cannot achieve.
Across these efforts, ceramic AM’s value lies not simply in printing complex cores but in developing repeatable manufacturing workflows that can support aerospace production.
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Featured image shows 3D printing allows a finished part to be delivered in a maximum of two weeks. Photo via 3DCeram Sinto.
