Abstract
This paper introduces characterization techniques to investigate electrical properties of 3D-printed conductors. It presents the combination of a physical model to describe frequency dependent electrical properties of 3D-printed conductors; the use of infrared thermography in combination with Joule heating to characterize electrical anisotropy in 3D-printed sheets; and the use of the voltage contrast scanning electron microscopy method (VCSEM) to determine potential distributions in 3D-printed sheets. By means of lock-in thermography, infrared (IR) measurements are improved and amplitude modulation enables lock-in thermography at excitation frequencies above the thermal cut-off frequency. Measurements on sensor samples show the potential of the methods for characterizing sheet-like, conductive structures. The characterization methods allow improvement of 3D-printed sensor designs and exploit electrical properties of 3D-printed conductors.
Highlights
3D-printing conductors, and in particular sensors, by means of fused deposition modelling is an upcoming, promising area of research [1], where 3D-printed piezo resistive, EMG and capacitive sensors have been demonstrated [2], [3] and a significant amount of research has been done on electrical properties of conductive-polymer composites for printing [4], [5]
In this paper we show that the voltage contrast scanning electron microscopy method (VCSEM), used e.g. to characterize conducting networks in carbon nanotube composites [14] and used for semiconductor failure analysis [15], can be applied to 3D-printed conductors too
Characterization methods have been presented to investigate the electrical properties of 3D-printed conductors in combination with a physical model for Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations
Summary
3D-printing conductors, and in particular sensors, by means of fused deposition modelling is an upcoming, promising area of research [1], where 3D-printed piezo resistive, EMG and capacitive sensors have been demonstrated [2], [3] and a significant amount of research has been done on electrical properties of conductive-polymer composites for printing [4], [5]. Printing conditions affect the electrical properties due to voids and bonding conditions between adjacent traxels (i.e. track-elements produced by the printing process), as shown by measurements and simulations [5], [6] and affect the performance of 3D-printed sensors [3]. Insight is gained by developing appropriate physical models, representing conductive structures by fused traxels. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the FLEPS 2019 Conference and was published in its Proceedings: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8792279
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