Electrohydrodynamic jet printing of PZT thick film micro-scale structures

This paper reports the use of a printing technique, called electrohydrodynamic jet printing, for producing PZT thick film micro-scale structures without additional material removing processes. The PZT powder was ball-milled and the effect of milling time on the particle size was examined. This ball-milling process can significantly reduce the PZT particle size and help to prepare stable composite slurry suitable for the E-Jet printing. The PZT micro-scale structures with different features were produced. The PZT lines with different widths and separations were fabricated through the control of the E-Jet printing parameters. The widths of the PZT lines were varied from 80 μm to 200 μm and the separations were changed from 5 μm to 200 μm. In addition, PZT walled structures were obtained by multi-layer E-Jet printing. The E-Jet printed PZT thick films exhibited a relative permittivity (ɛr) of ∼233 and a piezoelectric constant (d33, f) of ∼66 pC N−1

Fabrication of advanced ceramics and selective metallization of non-conductive substrates by inkjet printing

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 30/10/2002.Inkjet printing of ceramic components and gold conductive tracks was carried out in this study. A commercial inkjet printer, designed for printing one layer of 2D images on paper, was modified to give adequate resolution, to reverse the substrate for overprinting many layers and to accommodate the increase in thickness of 3D components during printing. Ceramic inks were prepared by wet ball milling and printed to form 3D structures. The powders used were alumina, zirconia, lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and barium titanate. The substrate used for printing the ceramic parts was an overhead transparency. Methods to stop or reduce ink flow were devised and used during printing of the ceramic parts. The alumina and zirconia powders were used for the fabrication of multi-layered laminates. The lead zirconate titanate was used to fabricate components with pillars, walls, vertical channels and x-y-z channel network. During printing of the x-y-z channel network, carbon was used as a support structure and then removed during firing. Barium titanate and carbon powders were used to form the first storey of a capacitor with a multi-storey car park structure. The printed parts were pyrolysed and fired in an oxidising environment and then characterised with scanning electron microscopy. The causes of micro structural defects found were discussed and prevention methods suggested. Organic gold powder was dissolved in methanol and then printed on three different substrates to form conductive gold tracks. The substrates used included alumina, glazed tile and microscope glass slides. The printed tracks were fired in air. The decomposition characteristics of the organic gold compound were studied with TGA and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Scanning electron microscope was used to examine the fired gold film for defects and conductivity measurement of the tracks was carried out with a programmable multimeter

Novel patterning technology for the LTCC based packaging of an optical encoder

Powder blasting technology is proposed in this thesis as a new structuring tool for Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC). The process, consisting of mechanical abrasion through high speed particles, is mostly used on brittle material but was successfully adapted for the patterning of microstructures onto the fragile green tape substrate, through the manufacturing of novel stencil masks. These masks are based on high resolution patterned nickel sheet produced using UV-LIGA process or laser cutting coated with a thin layer of photopolymer which prevents efficiently the metal sheet deformations under particles bombardment. The magnetic properties of the metal allowed magnetic clamping to be used to maintain the mask down onto the substrate. The etching rate of the metal was shown to be low enough at a pressure of 50 psi (344kPa) at a distance nozzle-substrate (N-S) of 20mm and 50mm so that the mask could be re-used several times and ensured good pattern transfer quality from the mask to the substrate. The process was systematically characterised on DuPont 951 P2 (~165μm thick) green tapes. The erosion of the green tape ceramic was then characterised with the micro-patterned electroplated masks. It showed that the powder blasted structures had U shape walls and verticality of the walls closed to 90o can be obtained with increasing the number of passes. The structures have smooth edges and do not have any melting parts. Smoother structures were obtained with distance nozzle-substrate of 50mm favouring lower under etching of about 15-20μm at the expense of a three times increase in process duration. Vias as small as 62μm in entry diameter and 20μm exit diameter were produced along with beams 25μm top width and 54μm bottom width were produced. Following the green tape characterisation, a LTCC package for an optical encoder featuring 16 layers with the glass cavity was manufactured. 45x45mm nickel masks coated with LF55gn flexopolymer were produced featuring stacking pins, fiducials, cavities and circular apertures ranging from 100μm to 400μm diameters for interconnections. Each mask was powder blasted at 50 psi for a flow rate of about 0.1g/s, a distance N-S of 20mm and a speed of 5mm/s. The optical encoder was successfully attached on the package and tested

Remanufacturing and Advanced Machining Processes for New Materials and Components

"Remanufacturing and Advanced Machining Processes for Materials and Components presents current and emerging techniques for machining of new materials and restoration of components, as well as surface engineering methods aimed at prolonging the life of industrial systems. It examines contemporary machining processes for new materials, methods of protection and restoration of components, and smart machining processes. • Details a variety of advanced machining processes, new materials joining techniques, and methods to increase machining accuracy • Presents innovative methods for protection and restoration of components primarily from the perspective of remanufacturing and protective surface engineering • Discusses smart machining processes, including computer-integrated manufacturing and rapid prototyping, and smart materials • Provides a comprehensive summary of state-of-the-art in every section and a description of manufacturing methods • Describes the applications in recovery and enhancing purposes and identifies contemporary trends in industrial practice, emphasizing resource savings and performance prolongation for components and engineering systems The book is aimed at a range of readers, including graduate-level students, researchers, and engineers in mechanical, materials, and manufacturing engineering, especially those focused on resource savings, renovation, and failure prevention of components in engineering systems.

A Methodology For Coronary Stent Product Development: Design, Simulation And Optimization

Coronary stents are slotted tubes made of metals, alloys, or polymers. They are deployed in human arteries, which are blocked by calcified plaque, to keep the arteries open and allow the blood to flow with ease. Coronary stents have been proven as an effective treatment device for heart diseases such as acute myocardial infarction. Design plays an important role for coronary stents to perform the clinical functions properly. Various parameters such as materials, structures, dimensions, and deployment methods etc., need to be considered in the design of coronary stents. There are numerous studies on design of coronary stents and many significant manufacturing methods have been reported in the past two decades. However, there is no comprehensive methodology for the product development of coronary stents in terms of design, simulation, and manufacturing. The objective of this research is to develop a methodology for coronary stents product development that focuses on design, simulation, and manufacturing. The methodology brings together insights from numerous engineering design disciplines with the aim of making coronary stent development more flexible and more cost-efficient The product development methodology for coronary stents is executed through modeling and analyzing stent designs with details of design, simulation, and optimization methods. Three innovative stent designs are modeled using engineering design software (SolidWorks) and mechanical performances are simulated, evaluated, and optimized with the help of advanced engineering simulation software (ANSYS). In this study, the performance of stents based on stress, strain, and total deformation during deployment are analyzed and compared with commercially available optimal design i.e., Cypher (J & J Co.) stent, which acts as a benchmark design

The making of nickel and nickel-alloy shapes by casting, powder metallurgy, electroforming, chemical vapor deposition, and metal spraying

Casting, powder metallurgy, electroforming, metal spraying, and chemical vapor deposition techniques for producing nickel and nickel-alloy shape

A Linear Multiplexed Electrospray Thin Film Deposition System

Liquid spray is essential to industries requiring processes such as spray coating, spray drying, spray pyrolysis, or spray cooling. This thesis reports the design, fabrication, and characterization of a thin film deposition system which utilizes a linear multiplexed electrospray (LINES) atomizer. First, a thorough review of the advantages and limitations of prior multiplexed electrospray systems leads to discussion of the design rationale for this work. Next, the line of charge model was extended to prescribe the operating conditions for the experiments and to estimate the spray profile. The spray profile was then simulated using a Lagrangian model and solved using a desktop supercomputer based on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). The simulation was extended to estimate the droplet number density flux during deposition. Pure ethanol was electrosprayed in the cone-jet mode from a 51-nozzle aluminum LINES atomizer with less than 3% relative standard deviation in the D10 average droplet diameter as characterized using Phase Doppler Interferometry (PDI). Finally a 25-nozzle LINES was integrated into a thin film deposition system with a heated, motion controlled stage, to deposit TiO2 thin films onto silicon wafers from an ethanol based nanoparticle suspension. The resulting deposition pattern was analyzed using SEM, optical profilometry, and macro photography and compared with the numerical simulation results. The LINES tool developed here is a step forward to enabling the power of electrospray for industrial manufacturing applications in clean energy, health care, and electronic