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3D printing electronic components and circuits with conductive thermoplastic filament

Publication ,  Journal Article
Flowers, PF; Reyes, C; Ye, S; Kim, MJ; Wiley, BJ
Published in: Additive Manufacturing
December 1, 2017

This work examines the use of dual-material fused filament fabrication for 3D printing electronic components and circuits with conductive thermoplastic filaments. The resistivity of traces printed from conductive thermoplastic filaments made with carbon-black, graphene, and copper as conductive fillers was found to be 12, 0.78, and 0.014 Ω cm, respectively, enabling the creation of resistors with values spanning 3 orders of magnitude. The carbon black and graphene filaments were brittle and fractured easily, but the copper-based filament could be bent at least 500 times with little change in its resistance. Impedance measurements made on the thermoplastic filaments demonstrate that the copper-based filament had an impedance similar to a copper PCB trace at frequencies greater than 1 MHz. Dual material 3D printing was used to fabricate a variety of inductors and capacitors with properties that could be predictably tuned by modifying either the geometry of the components, or the materials used to fabricate the components. These resistors, capacitors, and inductors were combined to create a fully 3D printed high-pass filter with properties comparable to its conventional counterparts. The relatively low impedance of the copper-based filament enabled its use for 3D printing of a receiver coil for wireless power transfer. We also demonstrate the ability to embed and connect surface mounted components in 3D printed objects with a low-cost ($1000 in parts), open source dual-material 3D printer. This work thus demonstrates the potential for FFF 3D printing to create complex, three-dimensional circuits composed of either embedded or fully-printed electronic components.

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Published In

Additive Manufacturing

DOI

EISSN

2214-8604

Publication Date

December 1, 2017

Volume

18

Start / End Page

156 / 163

Related Subject Headings

  • 4016 Materials engineering
  • 4014 Manufacturing engineering
  • 0910 Manufacturing Engineering
 

Citation

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Flowers, P. F., Reyes, C., Ye, S., Kim, M. J., & Wiley, B. J. (2017). 3D printing electronic components and circuits with conductive thermoplastic filament. Additive Manufacturing, 18, 156–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2017.10.002
Flowers, P. F., C. Reyes, S. Ye, M. J. Kim, and B. J. Wiley. “3D printing electronic components and circuits with conductive thermoplastic filament.” Additive Manufacturing 18 (December 1, 2017): 156–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2017.10.002.
Flowers PF, Reyes C, Ye S, Kim MJ, Wiley BJ. 3D printing electronic components and circuits with conductive thermoplastic filament. Additive Manufacturing. 2017 Dec 1;18:156–63.
Flowers, P. F., et al. “3D printing electronic components and circuits with conductive thermoplastic filament.” Additive Manufacturing, vol. 18, Dec. 2017, pp. 156–63. Scopus, doi:10.1016/j.addma.2017.10.002.
Flowers PF, Reyes C, Ye S, Kim MJ, Wiley BJ. 3D printing electronic components and circuits with conductive thermoplastic filament. Additive Manufacturing. 2017 Dec 1;18:156–163.
Journal cover image

Published In

Additive Manufacturing

DOI

EISSN

2214-8604

Publication Date

December 1, 2017

Volume

18

Start / End Page

156 / 163

Related Subject Headings

  • 4016 Materials engineering
  • 4014 Manufacturing engineering
  • 0910 Manufacturing Engineering