Functionalized ceramic article

A method for additive manufacturing of a position sensitive colored dental ceramic article comprising:

• a) providing at least one flowable ceramic component;
• b) forming a green body by sequential deposition of the flowable ceramic component provided in step a) and optionally a support material not intended to be part of a final article, wherein the flowable ceramic component is sequentially deposited in the form of particles dispersed in a dispersion medium;
• c) position sensitive application of a coloring substance in a solvent to at least a part of a surface of the green body being formed in step b), wherein the coloring substance is applied simultaneously to the sequential deposition;
• d) heat treatment or curing of at least a part of the green body surface obtained in step c);
• wherein the method steps a)-d) are at least performed once;
• e) optionally removing the support material from the green body;
• and
• f) sintering the green body to obtain the ceramic article,
• wherein the coloring substance is a dyestuff according to ISO 18451-1:2019 (E);
• and
• wherein the dispersion medium comprises ≥10 wt. % and ≤40 wt. % 2-(2-Butoxyethoxy)ethanol and the dispersed particles comprise ≥30 wt. % and ≤60 wt. % zirconium oxide, ≥0.001 wt. % and ≤3 wt. % hafnium oxide, ≥0.001 wt. % and ≤8% yttrium oxide;
• or,
• wherein the dispersed particles comprise ≥2 wt. % and ≤10 wt. % yttrium oxide, ≥0.001 wt. % and ≤10 wt. % hafnium oxide, ≥0.001 wt. % and ≤3 wt. % aluminum oxide.