www.3ders.org

Jun 24, 2015 | By Alec

Despite all the advantages of 3D printing, many professional and amateur users are put off by the visible layers that even top level FDM printers produce. While many eventually turn to SLA or SLS 3D printing, it looks like there might soon be an even more precise technology on the market. For a team of South Korean scientists have developed a brand new high resolution 3D printing technique that somewhat resembles FDM 3D printing, but then with nanoscale layers invisible to the naked eye. In fact, this technique is so precise, it could be perfect for a wide range of electronic and circuit board applications.

This interesting technique has been developed by a team of scientists from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea, led by professor Park Jang-ung. To 3D print objects smaller than a red blood cell, it relies on electrohydrodynamic inkjet 3D printing, with special inks that can be built into microscopic 3D shapes. With ink drops the size of 0.001 millimeters, they are actually quite a bit smaller than red blood cells (which are around 0.006 millimeters in size). Printing itself takes place at room temperature, making this a very interesting technique indeed.

This new printing technology has been dubbed ‘3D electrohydrodynamic inkjet printing’, as the scientists said in a recent publication in German science journal ‘Advanced Materials’. And with a printing resolution of more than 50 times better than the previously known printing technology, it opens up a whole new avenue of possibilities. For one, its low printing temperatures means printing on more delicate materials such as textiles, fibers, plastics and others will become possible, even on human skin.

But it looks like the Korean scientists have already turned their eye towards the electronics market, where this 3D printing technique could be used developing electronic components and circuit boards. Indeed, prototyping across the board of fine electronics could become easier and faster. ‘The existing ultrafine pattern production methods in semiconductor manufacturing procedure had difficulties in reproducing 3D patterns. But the new technology can realize it in high resolution,’ the professor leading the team told reporters. ‘We believe the technology has set a new paradigm for research using 3D printing and wearable electronic devices.’

Where typical 3D printing technologies have so far proven incapable of making the widely expected flexible wearable electronic devices, this new 3D electrohydrodynamic inkjet printing technique could thus be exactly what the world needs. More about this exciting development will doubtlessly follow.

Posted in 3D Printers

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