3D Printed Electronics: Processes, Materials and Future Trends

Transparent glass with metal mesh is considered a promising strategy for high performance transparent glass heaters (TGHs). However, the realization of simple, low-cost manufacture of high performance TGHs still faces great challenges. Here, a technique for the fabrication of high performance TGHs is proposed using liquid sacrificial substrate electric-field-driven (LS-EFD) microscale 3D printing of thick film silver paste. The liquid sacrificial substrate not only significantly improves the aspect ratio (AR) of silver mesh, but also plays a positive role in printing stability. The fabricated TGHs with a line width of 35 µm, thickness of 12.3 µm, and pitch of 1000 µm exhibit a desirable optoelectronic performance with sheet resistance (Rs ) of 0.195 Ω sq-1 and transmittance (T) of 88.97%. A successful deicing test showcases the feasibility and practicality of the manufactured TGHs. Moreover, an interface evaporator is developed for the coordination of photothermal and electrothermal systems based on the high performance TGHs. The vapor generation rate of the device reaches 10.69 kg m-2 h-1 with a voltage of 2 V. The proposed technique is a promising strategy for the cost-effective and simple fabrication of high performance TGHs.

3D Printed High Performance Silver Mesh for Transparent Glass Heaters through Liquid Sacrificial Substrate Electric-Field-Driven Jet.

In order to address the challenging issue regarding the high-efficiency and low-cost fabrication of high-performance flexible transparent electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding films, a novel approach is proposed to produce flexible transparent EMI shielding film with silver mesh based on electric-field-driven (EFD) microscale 3D printing. The manufacturing principle and the reasonable process parameters are revealed with a series of experiments. Following this fabricating scheme and self-developed EFD micro-scale 3D printer, three flexible transparent EMI shielding films having a size of 60 mm × 60 mm and a line width of 26 μm are achieved utilizing the low-temperature nano silver paste (75% silver content and 350 dPa·s (25 °C) dynamic viscosity). The experimental result shows that the adhesive force between the sintered silver mesh and the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate is measured to be 5B with 3 M scotch tape. The bending experiment proves the excellent mechanical flexibility of the flexible transparent EMI shielding film. In different chemical environments and ultrasonic vibration environments, the silver mesh flexible transparent EMI shielding film can still maintain good electrical properties. When the pitch of the silver mesh is 500 μm, the optical transmittance is 90.5% and the EMI shielding efficiency for the common medium-high frequency electromagnetic wave is greater than 26 dB. When the pitch is 300 μm, the optical transmittance is 84% and the shielding efficiency is higher than 32 dB. When the pitch is 150 μm, the optical transmittance is 69% and the shielding efficiency is higher than 34 dB. As a result, the proposed method provides a promising solution for mass producing high-performance silver mesh flexible transparent EMI shielding films at low cost and high throughput. 

Flexible transparent electromagnetic interference shielding films with silver mesh fabricated using electric-field-driven microscale 3D printing

Distinguished by a marked combination of high strength and high fracture toughness, 18Ni-300 maraging steel (MS) is widely used for intricate tool and die applications. MS is also amenable to the powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process, providing unique opportunities to make small features and incorporate cooling channels in molds. In this study, tensile test samples were fabricated using selective laser melting to investigate the effects of built height and orientations on the evolution of the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the samples. The microstructure of the as-fabricated samples consists of the primary a-martensite phase and fine cellular microstructure (~0.66–0.83 µm) with the retained austenite ?-phase aggregated at the boundaries of the cells, resulting in an enhanced mechanical performance compared with traditional counterparts under the same condition (without post-heat treatments). Random grain orientations with weak textures are revealed in all samples. The XY-built samples display better tensile performance when compared to the Z-built samples due to the fine grain sizes and the retained ? phase. The bottom of the Z-built sample exhibits a higher hardness than other parts of the sample, which could be attributed to its finer cellular structure.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0884291420001260

Microstructural heterogeneity and mechanical anisotropy of 18Ni-330 maraging steel fabricated by selective laser melting: The effect of build orientation and height

Cylindrical microlens arrays (CMLAs) play a key role in many optoelectronic devices, and 100% fill-factor CMLAs also have the advantage of improving the signal-to-noise ratio and avoiding stray-light effects. However, the existing preparation technologies are complicated and costly, which are not suitable for mass production. Herein, we propose a simple, efficient, and low-cost manufacturing method for CMLAs with a high fill-factor via the electric-field-driven (EFD) microscale 3D printing of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). By adjusting the printing parameters, the profile and the fill-factor of the CMLAs can be controlled to improve their optical performance. The optical performance test results show that the printed PDMS CMLAs have good image-projecting and light-diffraction properties. Using the two printing modes of this EFD microscale 3D-printing technology, a cylindrical dual-microlens array with a double-focusing function is simply prepared. At the same time, we print a series of specially shaped microlenses, proving the flexible manufacturing capabilities of this technology. The results show that the prepared CMLAs have good morphology and optical properties. The proposed method may provide a viable route for manufacturing large-area CMLAs with 100% fill-factor in a very simple, efficient, and low-cost manner.

3D Printing of a PDMS Cylindrical Microlens Array with 100% Fill-Factor.

To overcome the mandatory requirement of nozzle conductivity in the conventional electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing, this paper proposed a self-induced electric-field-driven jet printing for fa...

Huang Hui

Papers

The self-induced electric-field-driven jet printing for fabricating ultrafine silver grid transparent electrode