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High resolution electrohydrodynamic printing of conductive ink with an aligned aperture coaxial printhead

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Abstract

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing is a promising inkjet technique to generate smaller droplet sizes due to the formation of a Taylor cone. However, the process is intricate and involves the fabrication of a printhead having a smaller nozzle diameter. Notable examples are present in the literature regarding printing through EHD but the underlying phenomenon which is responsible for generating the smaller droplet is obscure. In this work, we present a methodology which highlights the importance of nozzle shape which can govern smaller droplets even with a large head diameter. The work achieves a resolution of less than 2 μ m by fabricating the inkjet head using simple techniques and off-the-shelf inexpensive needles of nozzle diameter ranging from 500 μ m to 250 μ m. The study of various nozzle profiles resulted in a printed resolution which is 50 times smaller than the nozzle diameter. Moreover, the study also highlights the importance of the wetting area profile of the nozzle and explains the role of printhead design which facilitates fine resolution printing of conductive tracks which until now seemed to be obscure.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Massey University Research Fund (MURF 2019 Grant No. RM21558).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, SF & AT, Massey University, Auckland, 0632, New Zealand

    Muhammad Asif Ali Rehmani & Khalid Mahmood Arif

Authors
  1. Muhammad Asif Ali Rehmani
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  2. Khalid Mahmood Arif
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Contributions

M. Rehmani and K. Arif conceived the design and carried out the experiments, developed the approach and methodology, performed data analysis, interpretation and analysis of results. All authors contributed to writing of the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Khalid Mahmood Arif.

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The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article. The raw data are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Rehmani, M.A.A., Arif, K.M. High resolution electrohydrodynamic printing of conductive ink with an aligned aperture coaxial printhead. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 115, 2785–2800 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-07075-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-07075-6

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