Drop deposition affected by electrowetting in direct ink writing process

摘要

Direct ink writing (DIW) is a three-dimensional printing process that fabricates objects by depositing a functional ink on a substrate in a layer-by-layer way, for a wide range of applications including flexible electronics, scaffolds, biostructures, and so on. In DIW, adhesion between inks of different materials, and between the ink and the substrate, remains to be a challenge. In the context of the DIW process, the present work aims at determining the influence of the electric field on the adhesion of several commonly used and commercially available inks to different materials including glass, Kapton tape, ceramics, and other hydrophobic surfaces. The electric field is applied after or during different stages of the printing process, and the results are compared to reference specimens. The blister test is employed to measure the adhesion energy, which characterizes the bond between different materials. The main goal is to determine the enhancement of adhesion between different materials by means of the electric field and thus the improvement of the quality of printed items.