Seamless Additive Manufacturing of Electrical Circuits Inside Polymers for Multifunctional 3D Components

聚合物的增材制造（AM）使用逐层材料沉积来创建复杂的三维（3D）物体。将AM与3D物体内部的金属电路打印相结合，可以大大增强3D部件的功能。虽然已经提出了许多这样的制造方法，但是它们在电子性能、材料能力和材料成本之间强加了折衷。这个项目将创造一个新的过程，打破这种权衡的新知识。航空航天、机器人、医疗保健、国防和物联网应用对多功能3D零件的需求日益增加。因此，该项目所带来的新制造能力将产生多种变革性的社会经济效益，并刺激增材制造行业的新一代产品创新。这项研究将结合联合收割机几个学科，包括制造，热，机械，光学和材料科学。该项目将创建多个外展测试平台，以吸引高中，初中和本科阶段的女性和代表性不足的少数民族。该团队将通过组织增材制造研讨会来参与行业，并通过创建视频文章来进行公众宣传。这种研究和教育的整合将鼓励多个教育层次的工程和制造的多样性。该项目的目标是实现聚合物部件和部件内部导电金属电路的并行3D打印，同时实现高导电性和低材料成本。这项研究将测试的假设，闪光灯融合的核壳纳米线和物理知情的工艺参数调整可以实现这些目标。将创建多个长度尺度上的耦合光学、热、传质和力学模型，并进行实验验证。这项研究将填补关键的知识空白，在核壳纳米线的光驱动融合的动力学，热机械驱动的聚合物印刷过程中的电路电导率的变化，以及工艺参数和性能之间的关系。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Additive Manufacturing (AM) of polymers uses layer-by-layer material deposition to create complex three-dimensional (3D) objects. Combining AM with printing of metallic electrical circuits inside the 3D object can drastically enhance the functional capabilities of 3D parts. While many such fabrication approaches have been suggested, they impose a tradeoff between electronic performance, material capability, and material cost. This project will create new knowledge on a novel process that breaks this tradeoff. Multifunctional 3D parts are in increasing demand for aerospace, robotics, healthcare, defense, and Internet-of-Things applications. Thus, the new manufacturing capabilities enabled by this project will have multiple transformative socio-economic benefits and stimulate a new generation of product innovations in the additive manufacturing industry. This research will combine several disciplines including manufacturing, thermal, mechanics, optics, and materials science. This project will create multiple outreach testbeds for engaging women and underrepresented minorities across high school, middle school, and undergraduate levels. This team will engage industry by organizing additive manufacturing symposia, and perform public outreach via the creation of video articles. This integration of research and education will encourage diversity in engineering and manufacturing across multiple educational levels.This project’s goal is to enable concurrent 3D printing of polymer parts and electrically conductive metal circuits inside the part while achieving high electrical conductivity and low material cost. This research will test the hypothesis that flash light fusion of core-shell nanowires and physics-informed tuning of the process parameters can achieve those goals. Coupled optical, thermal, mass transfer and mechanical models over multiple length scales will be created and experimentally validated. This research will fill key knowledge gaps on the dynamics of optically-driven fusion in core-shell nanowires, thermomechanically-driven changes in circuit conductivity during polymer printing, and the relationship between the process parameters and performance. The outcome will be a scientific foundation for systemic realization of a performance-cost-material window that is not achievable with existing processes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.