Airflow Assisted Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing: An Advanced Micro-Additive Manufacturing Technique

Abstract

Electrohydrodynamic jet (e-jet) printing is a growing technology for high resolution (<20μm) printing. It enjoys the advantages of other additive manufacturing technologies and is compatible with a large range of materials. E-jet applications include electronic fabrication, high-resolution prototyping, and bio-medical devices. Despite the diverse range of applications, e-jet printing dynamics are sensitive to varying standoff heights and changing electric fields. As such, conventional e-jet printing generally consists of a conductive nozzle printing onto a flat, conductive substrate. To address this limitation, this paper presents an airflow assisted e-jet printhead that is shown to greatly reduce the substrate effects while providing good printing resolution (<15μm). The working principle and design challenges are provided. Experimental demonstrations validate the performance capabilities of the modified e-jet printhead.