Numerical and experimental investigation of aerosol jet printing

Ramesh, Srikanthan; Mahajan, Chaitanya; Gerdes, Sam; Gaikwad, Aniruddha; Rao, Prahalada; Cormier, Denis; Rivero, Iris V.

doi:10.1016/j.addma.2022.103090

Cited by 15 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The numerical simulation was conducted using the commercial ANSYS 15.0 software (ANSYS, Pennsylvania, USA). This study aimed at the focusing of aerosol particles with low concentrations, which corresponds to the application of the detection of the airborne target and aerosol jet printing where low concentrations of aerosol particles are often adopted [ 16 , 21 , 23 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. Because of the low concentrations of the aerosol particles considered herein, one-way coupling was used in the simulation and the interaction between different particles was neglected.…”

Section: Numerical Simulation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is because, based on our analysis, the time that the aerosol particles spend passing through the 1 cm-long microchannel is ~1 ms under the present simulation conditions. The effect of the solvent vapor pressure on the particle size would be weak, and thus it was often neglected in the study [ 23 ]. The steady-state pressure-velocity-coupled solver was used, and the flow was set as the laminar flow.…”

Section: Numerical Simulation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Taking aerosol jet printing as an example, aerosolized ink droplets are often squeezed by the sheath gas to achieve constriction and collimation. Ramesh et al [ 23 ] conducted a numerical and experimental study on aerosol jet printing, and they found that small particles were more likely to deviate from the mainstream due to their limited inertia, which would cause overspray during printing. Small nozzles or high sheath flow rates can be used to reduce the overspray, but might cause longer printing times and the low throughput [ 23 , 24 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ramesh et al [ 23 ] conducted a numerical and experimental study on aerosol jet printing, and they found that small particles were more likely to deviate from the mainstream due to their limited inertia, which would cause overspray during printing. Small nozzles or high sheath flow rates can be used to reduce the overspray, but might cause longer printing times and the low throughput [ 23 , 24 ]. Based on the above-mentioned analysis, it can be concluded that small-sized aerosol particles cannot be tightly focused at the center of the nozzle, which is one of the factors which causes overspray [ 25 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Efficient Focusing of Aerosol Particles in the Microchannel under Reverse External Force: A Numerical Simulation Study

2023

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Focusing aerosol particles efficiently is of great significance for high-precision aerosol jet printing and detection of the airborne target. A new method was proposed herein to achieve the efficient focusing of aerosol particles in the microchannel by using a reverse external force. Considering the slip at the interface between the gas and the aerosol particle, a numerical model of the particle movement in the microchannel was established and simulations were conducted on the gas–particle two-phase flow in the microchannel under the effect of the reverse external force. The results showed that a suitable reverse external force in a similar order of magnitude to the Stokes force can dramatically increase the velocity difference between the particle and the gas, which significantly enhances the Saffman lift force exerted on the aerosol particle. Eventually, the aerosol particle can be efficiently focused at the center of the microchannel in a short channel length. In addition, the influence of the channel geometry, the magnitude, and the direction of the external force on the particle focusing was also studied. This work is of great significance for the precise detection of aerosol particles and the design of nozzles for aerosol jet printing.

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Section: Numerical Simulation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Numerical Simulation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Efficient Focusing of Aerosol Particles in the Microchannel under Reverse External Force: A Numerical Simulation Study

2023

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“…Among all influencing factors, sheath gas flow rate (SHGFR) and carrier gas flow rate (CGFR) affect the printing quality significantly . This is because the aerodynamic interaction between the annular sheath gas and the carrier gas produces a chance to directly collimate the incoming ink aerosol and optimize the deposited line features . Therefore, the flow focusing ratio (SHGFR/CGFR) is often optimized to achieve sufficient collimation of the aerosol stream before deposition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Machine Learning Enables Process Optimization of Aerosol Jet 3D Printing Based on the Droplet Morphology

Zhang

Hong

Chen

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Aerosol jet printing (AJP) is a promising noncontact direct ink writing technology that enables flexible and conformal electronic devices to be fabricated onto planar and nonplanar substrates with higher resolution and less waste. Despite possessing many advantages, the limited electrical performance of microelectronic devices caused by the poor printing quality is still the greatest hurdle to overcome for AJP technology. With the motivation to improve the printing quality, a novel hybrid machine learning method is proposed to analyze and optimize the AJP process based on the deposited droplet morphology in this study. The proposed method consists of classic machine learning approaches, including space-filling-based experimental design, clustering, classification, regression, and multiobjective optimization. In the proposed method, a two-dimensional (2D) design space is fully explored using a Latin hypercube sampling approach for experimental design, and a K-means clustering approach is employed to reveal the cause–effect relationship between the deposited droplet morphology and printed line characteristics. Following that, an optimal operating window with respect to the deposited droplet morphology is identified using a support vector machine to ensure the printing quality in a design space. Finally, to achieve high-controllability and sufficient-thickness droplets, Gaussian process regression is adopted to develop the process model of droplet geometrical properties, and the deposited droplet morphology is optimized under dual conflicting objectives of customizing the droplet diameter and maximizing droplet thickness. Different from previous printing quality optimization approaches, the proposed method enables a systemic investigation on the formation mechanisms of printed line characteristics, and the printing quality is fundamentally optimized based on the deposited droplet morphology. Moreover, data-driven-based characteristics can help the proposed approach serve as a guideline for printing quality optimization in other noncontact direct ink writing technologies.

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Enhanced Resolution, Throughput, and Stability of Aerosol Jet Printing via In Line Heating

Guyll,

Petersen,

Pint

et al. 2024

Adv Funct Materials

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Aerosol jet printing offers high resolution, broad materials compatibility, and digital patterning for flexible, conformal, and hybrid electronics. However, limited throughput, instability, and complex optimization requirements inhibit translation to industrial applications. An in‐line heater integrated on a custom printer is demonstrated to modulate droplet evaporation in the aerosol phase, thereby decoupling the deposition rate of functional solids and liquid ink to enable taller, narrower features with aspect ratios reaching 0.29 for a single line. Heating the printhead from room temperature to 80 °C reduced the sensitivity of resolution to deposition rate by ≈90%, improving reliability. With this strategy, increasing the linear deposition rate by 10x results in a modest increase of 27% in line width, compared to a four‐fold increase without heating, permitting higher throughput without sacrificing print quality. Providing a control for in‐line drying independent of ink formulation enables rapid, straightforward design of new materials and processes. This ability to engineer drying of droplets prior to impingement provides a versatile tool to meet complex fabrication challenges, as demonstrated here for both high aspect ratio printing and conformal patterning on rough and three‐dimensional surfaces.

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Numerical and experimental investigation of aerosol jet printing

Cited by 15 publications

References 27 publications

Efficient Focusing of Aerosol Particles in the Microchannel under Reverse External Force: A Numerical Simulation Study

Efficient Focusing of Aerosol Particles in the Microchannel under Reverse External Force: A Numerical Simulation Study

Machine Learning Enables Process Optimization of Aerosol Jet 3D Printing Based on the Droplet Morphology

Enhanced Resolution, Throughput, and Stability of Aerosol Jet Printing via In Line Heating

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