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Molybdenum is a refractory metal regarded as a promising basis for producing high-temperature components. However, the potential of manufacturing molybdenum-based structures by direct ink writing (DIW) has not been explored. In this study, three-dimensional porous molybdenum (Mo) and molybdenum-silicon (Mo–Si) composite lattices were fabricated using DIW with non-milled and milled powders. The effects of Mo powder morphology (resulting from milling) and chemical composition (alloying Mo with 3 and 10 wt% of Si) on the microstructure, phase composition, and static and cyclic compression properties at room temperature were investigated. Lattices fabricated from commercial spherical Mo powder exhibited the highest intra-filament porosity. Conversely, lattices fabricated from milled Mo powder were denser and had higher compressive strength, offset stress, and quasi-elastic gradient. Alloying Mo with Si during sintering resulted in composite lattices with Mo + Mo3Si microstructure. A low content of Mo3Si slightly decreased monotonic compression properties but did not affect the cyclic compression response compared to Mo lattices made from milled powder. In contrast, a high content of Mo3Si produced quasi-brittle lattices with reduced compressive strength and increased damage accumulation during cyclic loading. The cyclic behavior of all lattices was characterized by a ratcheting-dominated stress-strain response. Lattices fabricated from milled Mo and milled Mo-3 wt.%Si powders demonstrated superior performance compared to those fabricated from commercial spherical Mo and milled Mo-10 wt%Si powders. The results suggest that using milled powders can enhance the mechanical reliability and promote the use of DIW as preferred additive manufacturing technology for the fabrication of Mo–Si composite lattices.

The fine powdered silica by-product of processing of aluminum fluoride (fertilizer plant, Lithuania) was used for zeolite synthesis as silica and aluminum source. The effect of sonication time and the time of hydrothermal synthesis on crystallinity of the synthesized zeolite were studied. This allowed the transformation of the by-product to the mixture of Na–P zeolite and Na–X zeolite. It was determined that ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal action effected the “diamond” shape formation of Na–P zeolite with clear crystal edges. Na–P zeolite had the morphology of pseudo-spherical forms constituted by small plates when hydrothermal treatment (without sonication) was use for the preparation of zeolites. Moreover, it was determined that ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal method effected a reduction in the crystal size compared with the zeolites which were synthesized only by using hydrothermal synthesis. The total amount of zeolites as high as 88–93% was achieved after 24 h of hydrothermal treatment followed or unfollowed by sonication. By using longer duration (20 min) of ultrasound pretreatment it is possible to reduce the duration of hydrothermal synthesis: from 24 h to 12 h of hydrothermal treatment. In this case, similar results of total amount of zeolites were detected. In the present work, low-cost raw materials, such as silica by-product have been investigated for the production of zeolites.