Ceramics - LCM

Why this process is unique

Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing (LCM, developed by Lithoz) is vat photopolymerisation with ceramic-loaded slurry instead of standard resin. After printing, parts undergo debinding and sintering - burning off the polymer binder and fusing the ceramic particles.

Key pricing characteristics:

• Material dominates: zirconia slurry is €2,000-5,000+ per litre
• Parts shrink: ~20% linear shrinkage during sintering. Geometry should be scaled up before printing, but this is the operator's concern, not the equation's.
• Small parts: ceramic parts are typically small and intricate (dental, medical, industrial nozzles)
• Print time similar to SLA: layer-based exposure, fixed time per layer
• Sintering is a separate step: typically handled in post-process pricing, not Level 1

Core methodology

Same structure as SLA/DLP, but:

• resinCostPerLiter is much higher (ceramic slurry price)
• Support fraction from hull gap is smaller (ceramics parts often have fewer overhangs due to design constraints)
• Machine cost is significant but secondary to material

Numerical example

Part: 10 × 8 × 15 mm dental crown, volume = 300 mm³

Resin volume: 300 mm³ + ~10% supports = 330 mm³ = 0.00033 L

Material cost: 0.00033 × 3,200 = €1.06

Layers: ceil(15 / 0.025) = 600

Print time: 600 × 30 / 3600 = 5 hours

Machine cost: 5 × 18 = €90

Unit price (1 part): ~€91 - material is only 1% of cost at this scale

For larger parts (50mm+) material cost grows but machine time still dominates.

Complete algorithm

const { volume, area, convexHullVolume, length, width, height } = specification
const { quantity } = requisition

// Lithoz CeraFab S65 chamber: 76 × 43 × 150 mm
const CHAMBER_LENGTH = 76
const CHAMBER_WIDTH  = 43
const CHAMBER_HEIGHT = 150

const LAYER_HEIGHT_MM = 0.025

const slurryCostPerLiter = material.variables['slurryCostPerLiter']
const machineCostPerH    = material.variables['machineCostPerH']

// Material
const supportVolumeMm3 = (convexHullVolume - volume) * 0.05  // ceramics tend to have fewer supports
const totalVolumeLiters = (volume + supportVolumeMm3) / 1_000_000
const materialCost = round(totalVolumeLiters * slurryCostPerLiter, 2)

// Print time
const maxDimension   = Math.max(width, height, length)
const heightAt45Deg  = maxDimension * Math.cos(45 * (Math.PI / 180))
const numberOfLayers = Math.ceil(heightAt45Deg / LAYER_HEIGHT_MM)
const timePerLayer   = variable('timePerLayer', 30)  // seconds
const printTimeHours = variable('printTime', round(numberOfLayers * timePerLayer / 3600, 2))
const machineCost    = round(printTimeHours * machineCostPerH, 2)

// Pricing
const getDiscount = createBands({ 5: 0.95, 20: 0.90, 50: 0.85 }, 1.0)
const baseCost  = (materialCost + machineCost) * getDiscount(quantity)
const unitPrice = variable('unitPrice', round(baseCost, 2))

const oversized = length > CHAMBER_LENGTH || width > CHAMBER_WIDTH || height > CHAMBER_HEIGHT
done(unitPrice, printTimeHours, oversized)

Material variables: slurryCostPerLiter, machineCostPerH

When to use this

LCM (Lithoz), ceramic DLP, or any slurry-based photopolymerisation. Typical applications: dental crowns, implants, industrial nozzles, filtration media, cutting tools.