View Presentation

View Recorded Presentation

Advances in additive manufacturing methods, based on 3D printing technologies, have opened up many niche opportunities in printed electronics. Examples include: conformal electronics that have to be integrated in/on 3D curvilinear structures; electronics for soft stretchable and deformable substrates; LRUs that can be printed on-demand at remote service depots; and electronics that require low-temperature assembly processes (compared to conventional assembly methods such as soldering). The potential application domains are in consumer, commercial, industrial, transportation, healthcare and military electronics.

Converting these opportunities from hype into reality requires in-depth scientific and engineering understanding of the materials systems used in additive manufacturing and also the physics of the relevant manufacturing processes. The knowledge-base needed for successful product realization for high-quality, reliable and affordable products is significantly different from what is currently available for conventional manufacturing processes. Recent studies at CALCE and elsewhere have clearly demonstrated the knowledge-gaps in this domain.

This webinar will share some of the recent results, lessons-learned and future directions. The focus will be on specific examples of electronic circuit elements (dielectrics and conductors) fabricated using state-of-the-art aerosol jet printing and sintering processes. The discussion will emphasize steps being taken to connect the dots between: (i) key aspects of the printing and sintering methods; (ii) important attributes of the inks used in the printing process; (iii) manufacturing quality and results of reliability testing and failure analysis; and (iv) in-depth insights into the process physics, using fundamental thermo-fluidic simulations. The outcome of this work is expected to lead to better methods for optimizing, monitoring and controlling material and process parameters, so we can consistently assure high quality and reliability of the end product.

The webinar will end with perspectives on how the lessons learned can be generalized to other printing processes for electronic and non-electronic products.

About the Presenters:

Prof. Abhijit Dasgupta is a founding member of the Center for Advance Life Cycle Engineering. Prof. Dasgupta's research interests include accelerated product qualification, micromechanics of constitutive and damage behavior, properties of 3-D printed structures, fatigue damage modeling, and self-health monitoring in "smart" systems.

Prof. Siddhartha Das received his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 2010 in the area of theoretical microfluidics. He Joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Univervisty of Maryland College Park in 2014. He joined the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering in 2018. His research interests span different areas of micro-nanoscale fluid mechanics and interactions of soft matter and complex interfaces with fluid mechanics.