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Aerosol Printing and Flash Sintering of Conformal Conductors on 3D Nonplanar Surfaces
Manufacturing Letters
  • I. Meng Chen
  • Yangtao Liu
  • Xiaowei Yu
  • Wesley Everhart
  • Jonghyun Park, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Yan Wang
  • Heng Pan, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Abstract

Printing techniques have been extensively studied as a promising route towards large-scale, low-cost and high-throughput manufacturing process for electronic devices. With the recently emerging applications in wearable electronics and customizable conformal electronics, it calls for the necessity to develop printed electronics that function on complex, 3D nonplanar architectures. In this study, aerosol printing and flash sintering of conformal conductors on nonplanar surfaces are demonstrated. Various printed patterns are fabricated by aerosol printing of conductive ink by copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs) on both planar and nonplanar surfaces. Pulsed flash light introduces rapid sintering of the printed Cu patterns in the ambient environment. For the nonplanar patterns, a back reflector is utilized to improve the uniformity of sintering. As a result, highly conductive customizable nonplanar Cu patterns with conductivity at 10%-12% of that of bulk Cu are obtained. Effects of different sintering conditions, including sintering voltage and mounting distance on the conductivity of sintered patterns are studied. For nonplanar patterns, conductivity values at different localized spots on the nonplanar rod are also investigated to evaluate the uniformity of nonplanar sintering. The processes of aerosol printing and flash sintering have provided a facile manufacturing route for conformal conductors on arbitrary nonplanar objects.

Department(s)
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Publication Status
In Press, Corrected Proof
Comments
National Science Foundation, Grant DE-NA0002839
Keywords and Phrases
  • Aerosol printing,
  • Conformal conductors,
  • Copper nanoparticles,
  • Flash sintering,
  • Printed electronics
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2021 Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
9-30-2021
Publication Date
30 Sep 2021
Disciplines
Citation Information
I. Meng Chen, Yangtao Liu, Xiaowei Yu, Wesley Everhart, et al.. "Aerosol Printing and Flash Sintering of Conformal Conductors on 3D Nonplanar Surfaces" Manufacturing Letters (2021) ISSN: 2213-8463
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jonghyun-park/65/