Rheological Characterization of Ink

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Voltera Inc. sells an innovative printed-circuit-board prototyping system called the V-One that printsconductive inks onto a variety of substrates to make electronic devices, as opposed to the traditional method ofphotolithography and chemical etching of a metallized substrate. This additive manufacturing approach alsoallows the V-One to dispense other rheologically complex materials, including the diverse set of novelmaterials currently in development for printed electronics (PE). While these materials enable new applicationsand markets with high potential for growth (wearable devices, printed batteries, structural electronics, etc.),companies seeking to create PE products must risk significant investment in large-area manufacturing methodsbefore they are able to begin any development. The Voltera V-One is uniquely positioned in this regard toenable low-risk, low-cost prototyping of PE by collaborating with PE materials producers to tailor theirrheology for dispensing - however, this formulation process is currently costly and inefficient, requiring lengthytrial-and-error experimentation based on qualitative observations. This is because there is currently noestablished test and characterization method which can quantify the rheological properties of PE materials interms of their effect on positive-displacement dispensing characteristics, requiring qualitative assessments inprocessing conditions, rather than at lab-scale. Such a test and characterization method is necessary for VolteraInc. to fully support increasingly diverse PE materials, as manufacturers continue to heavily invest in theirproduction and development. This work seeks to develop such a test method, by characterizing the linear andnonlinear viscoelastic properties of PE materials in conditions representative of positive-displacementdispensing using state-of-the art equipment and expertise at the University of Guelph. These test methods willallow Voltera Inc. to predict the dispensing behaviour of PE materials at lab scale with commonly availablerheometry equipment, thereby drastically accelerating the formulation process, and making these materialswidely accessible to companies in Canada and abroad.