Aerosol-Based 3D Printing Technology for High-Resolution Printing of Single and Composite Materials
SHALINEE KAVADIYA, Pratim Biswas,
University of Miami Abstract Number: 422
Working Group: Nanoparticles and Materials Synthesis
AbstractThe demand for miniaturization is growing in medical, electronics, military, and aerospace industries. For example, micro-robotic devices, which can travel throughout the body and function in delicate and hard-to-reach places, are becoming popular. Due to this downsizing of devices, designers and product developers must innovate on traditional design practices. Miniature device fabrication requires techniques that can achieve such small dimensions. The conventional techniques of multi-step micro-electromechanical system technology and template-assisted layer-by-layer assembly are effective but complex, time-consuming, and lack printing features smaller than a few tens of micrometers. 3D printing has become more popular for fabricating small devices because of its simplicity, autonomy, and excellent reproducibility.
Microdevice 3D printing methods include two-photon polymerization (2PP), stereolithography (SLA), direct light processing (DLP), continuous liquid interface production (CLIP), and selective laser sintering (SLS). These laser-based methods provide good resolution but need several steps and degrade material with high-energy lasers. SLA, 2PP, DLP, and CLIP can only print photopolymer. SLS needs a thin bed of powder, which is challenging to handle, especially with nanoparticles, resulting in the use of big particles (> 25 µm) and reduced printing resolution.
We are developing a simple aerosol-based 3D printing (A3DP) technology that can print small-length scales (< 50 µm) without any special environment during printing. The printing feedstock is generated using an aerosol process which enables printing finer length scales. Further, the feedstock can be controlled at any time to print the desired resolution and material. We printed a variety of materials: polymers, polymer–metal oxide composite, polymer–metal nanoparticle composite, and graded materials. In the presentation, we will demonstrate its capabilities to print these materials and discuss important parameters for high-resolution printing using the A3DP process.
Reference[1] Kavadiya and Biswas (2023), Aerosol-based 3D printing technology for high resolution and precision printing, in preparation.