Selective Electroplating for 3D-Printed Electronics
Creating 3D-printed parts with embedded circuitry is the next frontier in additive manufacturing, but printing of conductors with performance comparable to bulk metals such as copper is a difficult challenge. A hybrid process based on 3D printing followed by electroplating on highly conductive thermoplastic filament is used to manufacture 3D circuit boards and electronic packaging. Dual extruder heads on a standard fused filament fabrication printer are used to selectively define regions for electroplating, allowing distinct traces and multiple materials to be patterned in the same 3D-printed parts. Using this approach, a 3D-printed surface-mount package and a 555 timer oscillator circuit are demonstrated, including soldering of components onto the electroplated copper surface.
Duke Scholars
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- 51 Physical sciences
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- 34 Chemical sciences
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Related Subject Headings
- 51 Physical sciences
- 40 Engineering
- 34 Chemical sciences