Supercritical carbon dioxide-assisted gold metallization of 3D-printed structure and the tensile strength

Abstract

Gold metallization of 3D printed polymer structures was conducted by a supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO2) assisted electroless plating process. Precursor of the Pd catalyst utilized in this study was palladium bis-hexafluoroacetylacetonate for the high solubility in sc-CO2. A Ni–P layer was first formed on the catalyzed polymer structure as a sacrificial layer for the sequential gold deposition. Electrical resistance of the gold metallized 3D printed structure was 0.15 Ω and slightly increased to 0.18 Ω after a tape adhesion test. The fracture strength was 47.6 MPa for the sample with 45 min of the gold deposition time.Graphical abstract