High-temperature 3D printer with integrated laser to create graphene electronics in 3D printed engineering plastics

申请的资金将用于购买一台高温3D打印机。该打印机将把工程塑料的3D打印与其他制造能力结合起来，将电子设备集成到3D打印对象中。虽然3D打印在工业上变得越来越可行，但人们迫切需要集成电子设备，创造出智能3D打印对象。例如，在3D打印定制假肢中集成传感器将增强其能力，并使截肢者更准确地接近真实肢体。特别是，所要求的3D打印机将包含一个二氧化碳激光器，可以用来选择性地将3D打印材料转化为导电石墨烯。这是一种非常简单、快速和具有成本效益的纳米材料制造过程。石墨烯是传感应用的理想选择，其电学性能可以通过调节激光参数来优化。我们最近首次证明了这一过程可以应用于3D打印结构。与之前在非3D打印材料上的结果相比，我们已经达到了创纪录的低电阻。这使得这一过程可以将电子设备集成到3D打印对象中。该工艺适用于高温聚合物，这种聚合物具有最好的机械性能，最适合实际应用。我们的研究计划目前的进展受到这样一个事实的限制，即我们无法直接获得所需的设备。附近的一所大学没有可以用于这些研究的高温3D打印机。目前，我们依赖于外部3D打印机服务的付费，这意味着我们对这一过程的控制非常有限。所要求的设备具有开放的架构，这将使我们能够修改所有参数，以便对该过程进行科学研究，并优化性能。将激光集成在同一系统中将使我们能够执行石墨烯的激光产生，而不需要从3D打印机中取出样品。这将允许我们将石墨烯埋入3D打印样品中，而不会出现热翘曲等问题。打印机的5轴运动系统将使激光在3D物体的任何表面产生石墨烯。该打印机还包括用于研究3D打印结构和激光诱导的石墨烯原位性质的表征工具。我们将进行研究，以了解和优化3D打印聚合物上的石墨烯生成过程，以及如何最好地将其集成到3D打印结构中。最后，我们将创建真实的应用程序原型。所要求的设备包括拾取和放置以及连接硅片的焊接工具。石墨烯将用于大面积传感，而小硅片将用于数据处理和无线通信。这些不同功能的组合使所请求的设备在加拿大独一无二。

The requested funds will be used to purchase a high-temperature 3D printer. The printer will combine 3D printing of engineering plastics with other fabrication capabilities to integrate electronics into 3D printed objects. Whilst 3D printing is becoming increasingly industrially viable, there is an urgent need to integrate electronics and create smart 3D printed objects. For example, the integration of sensors in 3D printed customized prosthetics will enhance their capabilities and give amputees a more accurate approximation of the real limb. In particular, the requested 3D printer will contain a CO2 laser that can be used to selectively transform 3D printed material into conductive graphene. This is a very simple, fast and cost-effective process to create a nanomaterial. The graphene is ideal for sensing applications and its electrical properties can be optimized by tuning the laser parameters. We have recently demonstrated for the first time that this process can be applied to 3D printed structures. We have achieved record low resistance compared to previous results on not 3D printed material. This makes the process viable to integrate electronics into 3D printed objects. The process works on high-temperature polymers, which have the best mechanical properties and are most well suited for real-world applications. The progress of our research program is currently limited by the fact that we do not have direct access to the required equipment. No high-temperature 3D printer is available at a university in the vicinity that could be used for these studies. Currently, we rely on paying for an external 3D printer service, which means we have very limited control over the process. The requested equipment has an open architecture, which will allow us to modify all parameters for scientific studies of the process and optimize performance. The integration of the laser in the same system will allow us to perform the laser generation of the graphene without removing samples from the 3D printer. This will allow us to bury graphene within 3D printed samples without problems such as thermal warpage. The printer's 5-axis motion system will enable laser generation of graphene on any surface of 3D objects. The printer also includes characterization tools to study the properties of the 3D printed structure and the laser-induced graphene in-situ. We will perform studies to understand and optimize the graphene generation process on 3D printed polymers and how to best integrate it in 3D printed structures. Finally, we will create real application prototypes. The requested equipment includes pick and place and soldering tools to attach silicon chips. The graphene will be used for large-area sensing whilst the small silicon chips will be used for data processing and wireless communication. The combination of these different capabilities makes the requested equipment unique in Canada.