Aerosol Jet 5X system for printing 3D electronics.
Optomec has announced significant improvements in the ability to effectively print and post-process copper and copper/nickel inks on its Aerosol Jet systems.
The global supplier of production-grade additive manufacturing systems for 3D printed electronics and 3D printed metals believes its enhancements will impact several industries. The availability and support of these new, cost effective inks from a number of qualified suppliers will enable new classes of electronic devices helping to expand industrial use of 3D printed electronics for consumer products, medical devices, Internet of Things and other electronic applications.
“The general availability of both copper and copper/nickel materials extends Aerosol Jet printing to address our customer’s next generation product development challenges,” said Mike Renn, Optomec CTO. “Optomec’s Advanced Applications Lab has already begun using these innovative materials on applications ranging from embedded sensors, thermistors, and flexible electronic circuits.”
Copper and Copper/ Nickel inks from Applied Nanotech Inc., Intrinsiq Materials Inc., PV Nano Cell Ltd., and Kuprion Inc. have been successfully printed using Optomec Aerosol Jet technology. Copper is a well-known material used in the electronics industry to manufacture components and printed circuit boards, while the Constantan alloy is an established standard for critical sensing elements such as thermocouples and strain gauges that are the building blocks of the Industrial Internet of Things.
“We are very pleased to be working with Optomec in a NextFlex funded program to develop Aerosol Jettable inks for printing onto 3D subtrates,” said Mike Carmody, Chief Scientist, Intrinsiq Materials. “Preliminary results have been very encouraging. We believe this work will enable quality printing of fine lines on commercially relevant substrates which can give excellent conductivity when sintered either photonically or under reducing conditions, thus advancing the applicability of printed electronics.”
Fernando de la Vega, CEO of PV Nano Cell, added: “Our Sicrys copper-based inks, which are very stable 50% w/w metal nano-copper single crystal particles, low viscosity inks are designed to support high throughputs; therefore, the limit depends mostly on the printers. We are focussing on mass production in various fields, including printed electronics, printed circuit boards, antenna for mobile phones, solar cells, and 3D printing applications. Optomec’s Aerosol Jet printers provide PV Nano Cell with a unique solution for applying our materials to meet next generation manufacturing requirements.”
