Aerosol Assisted 3D Printing
Research Overview
3Dprinting of metals has rapidly progressed the biomedical field by enabling patient-customized tools, implants, scaffolds, etc. It also has the potential to accelerate the electronics industry to meet the rising demand for semiconductor chips and other electronics if we could 3D print metal and achieve the high resolution required to print electronics. Primarily 3D printing of metals is performed by powder bed fusion, using a micro-size particle bed. Larger particles have more inter-particle space, resulting in higher porosity and low mechanical strength in the final structure. Moreover, it is impossible to have nanoparticle bed because of their high surface energy. We aim to 3d print nanoparticles by aerosolizing them and feeding them to the 3D printer. A laser beam is used is focused on the aerosol outlet of the printer to melt the particles and print.
