Aerosol Jet Printing of 3D Pillar Arrays from Photopolymer Ink
An aerosol jet printing (AJP) printing head built on top of precise motion systems can provide positioning deviation down to 3 μm, printing areas as large as 20 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm, and five-axis freedom of movement. Typical uses of AJP are 2D printing on complex or flexible substrates, primarily for...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Polymers |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/16/3411 |
| _version_ | 1797431761633804288 |
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| author | Vitor Vlnieska Evgeniia Gilshtein Danays Kunka Jakob Heier Yaroslav E. Romanyuk |
| author_facet | Vitor Vlnieska Evgeniia Gilshtein Danays Kunka Jakob Heier Yaroslav E. Romanyuk |
| author_sort | Vitor Vlnieska |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An aerosol jet printing (AJP) printing head built on top of precise motion systems can provide positioning deviation down to 3 μm, printing areas as large as 20 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm, and five-axis freedom of movement. Typical uses of AJP are 2D printing on complex or flexible substrates, primarily for applications in printed electronics. Nearly all commercially available AJP inks for 2D printing are designed and optimized to reach desired electronic properties. In this work, we explore AJP for the 3D printing of free-standing pillar arrays. We utilize aryl epoxy photopolymer as ink coupled with a cross-linking “on the fly” technique. Pillar structures 550 μm in height and with a diameter of 50 μm were 3D printed. Pillar structures were characterized via scanning electron microscopy, where the morphology, number of printed layers and side effects of the AJP technique were investigated. Satellite droplets and over-spray seem to be unavoidable for structures smaller than 70 μm. Nevertheless, reactive ion etching (RIE) as a post-processing step can mitigate AJP side effects. AJP-RIE together with photopolymer-based ink can be promising for the 3D printing of microstructures, offering fast and maskless manufacturing without wet chemistry development and heat treatment post-processing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:50:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-69d367386b9f4ebb9b4124ae55931c05 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4360 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:50:00Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Polymers |
| spelling | doaj.art-69d367386b9f4ebb9b4124ae55931c052023-12-02T00:12:29ZengMDPI AGPolymers2073-43602022-08-011416341110.3390/polym14163411Aerosol Jet Printing of 3D Pillar Arrays from Photopolymer InkVitor Vlnieska0Evgeniia Gilshtein1Danays Kunka2Jakob Heier3Yaroslav E. Romanyuk4Empa—Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, SwitzerlandEmpa—Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, SwitzerlandInstitute of Microstructure Technology (IMT), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, GermanyEmpa—Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, SwitzerlandEmpa—Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, SwitzerlandAn aerosol jet printing (AJP) printing head built on top of precise motion systems can provide positioning deviation down to 3 μm, printing areas as large as 20 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm, and five-axis freedom of movement. Typical uses of AJP are 2D printing on complex or flexible substrates, primarily for applications in printed electronics. Nearly all commercially available AJP inks for 2D printing are designed and optimized to reach desired electronic properties. In this work, we explore AJP for the 3D printing of free-standing pillar arrays. We utilize aryl epoxy photopolymer as ink coupled with a cross-linking “on the fly” technique. Pillar structures 550 μm in height and with a diameter of 50 μm were 3D printed. Pillar structures were characterized via scanning electron microscopy, where the morphology, number of printed layers and side effects of the AJP technique were investigated. Satellite droplets and over-spray seem to be unavoidable for structures smaller than 70 μm. Nevertheless, reactive ion etching (RIE) as a post-processing step can mitigate AJP side effects. AJP-RIE together with photopolymer-based ink can be promising for the 3D printing of microstructures, offering fast and maskless manufacturing without wet chemistry development and heat treatment post-processing.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/16/3411photopolymerphotoresinaryl epoxy oligomersaerosol jet printingreactive ion etching3D structures |
| spellingShingle | Vitor Vlnieska Evgeniia Gilshtein Danays Kunka Jakob Heier Yaroslav E. Romanyuk Aerosol Jet Printing of 3D Pillar Arrays from Photopolymer Ink Polymers photopolymer photoresin aryl epoxy oligomers aerosol jet printing reactive ion etching 3D structures |
| title | Aerosol Jet Printing of 3D Pillar Arrays from Photopolymer Ink |
| title_full | Aerosol Jet Printing of 3D Pillar Arrays from Photopolymer Ink |
| title_fullStr | Aerosol Jet Printing of 3D Pillar Arrays from Photopolymer Ink |
| title_full_unstemmed | Aerosol Jet Printing of 3D Pillar Arrays from Photopolymer Ink |
| title_short | Aerosol Jet Printing of 3D Pillar Arrays from Photopolymer Ink |
| title_sort | aerosol jet printing of 3d pillar arrays from photopolymer ink |
| topic | photopolymer photoresin aryl epoxy oligomers aerosol jet printing reactive ion etching 3D structures |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/16/3411 |
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