Acoustic Patterning for 3D Embedded Electrically Conductive Wire in Stereolithography

J Micromech Microeng. 2017 Apr;27(4):045016. Epub 2017 Mar 14.

Abstract

In this paper, we reported a new approach for particle assembly with acoustic tweezer during three-dimensional (3D) printing for the fabrication of embedded conductive wire with 3D structures. A hexagon shaped acoustic tweezer was incorporated with Digital Light Processing (DLP) based stereolithography (SLA) printer to pattern conductive lines via aligning and condensing conductive nanoparticles. The effect of filler content on electrical resistivity and pattern thickness were studied for copper, magnetite nanoparticles, and carbon nanofiber reinforced nanocomposite samples. The obtained data was later used to produce examples of conductive 3D microstructures and embedded electronic components by using the suggested method.

Keywords: 3D Printing; Acoustic Alignment; Embedded Wire; Nanocomposite; Particle Assembly; Stereolithography.