Project R-4635

The development of an inkjet system for the printing of diverse conductive inks (Research)

The overall aim of the PhD work will be the development of an inkjet system where the print head will be interchangeable. In this way, different (conductive) inks can be tested with different print heads on printability and print head performance. Besides the control of the different print heads - each print head will have his own control system - also a visualization system should be attached to the printing system such that the drop formation can be seen and tuned by applying different characteristics to the print head. A heating plate and a transport system can be added to the inkjet printer to optimize the printing conditions regarding surface energy and speed of printing. A sintering tooi which is needed to make the printed metal structures conductive will also be integrated in the complete system. A laser tooi should be developed which can follow perfectly the printed structure such that only the printed lines will be locally heated and the places where no ink is printed will not be accessed such that darnaging of the substrate material is prohibited. When the sintering system is operational, printing and sintering tests will be performed and the relation between conductivity (electrical properties) and morphology (related to the printing) will be investigated to optimize the printing and sintering system.

01 October 2013 - 30 September 2017