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Inkjet-based three-dimensional (3D) printing is widely used for fast and efficient non-contact manufacturing, yet it suffers from several drawbacks, such as coarse resolution, lack of adhesion, manufacturing inconsistency, and uncertain final part mechanical properties. These undesirable effects are related to complex flow phenomena in colloidal droplets in inkjet 3D printing, particularly the internal flows and droplet deformations during the deposition and drying processes. These challenges are due to the colloidal suspension droplets being kept in the liquid state during printing. To overcome these disadvantages, this paper presents a novel freezing-sublimation-based inkjet 3D printing concept that freezes the colloidal droplets upon impact followed by sublimation, eliminating the undesirable particle transport and fluid motions during deposition. A series of experiments were conducted to characterize the colloidal droplet behaviors during the impinging/freezing and sublimation processes and evaluate the effects of the freezing process on droplet impinging dynamics as well as the final deposition patterns through sublimation. It was demonstrated that the deposition patterns obtained from this new method are much more uniform than the conventional evaporation-based deposition method. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to analyze the colloidal droplet profiles during the printing process (impinging, freezing, and sublimation), as well as the final deposition patterns. The study shows promising results of using this new method, providing a foundation for the development of the novel freezing-sublimation-based inkjet 3D printing technique.
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Interfacial Self-Assembly of Colloidal Nanoparticles in Dual-Droplet Inkjet Printing
The well‐known coffee‐ring effect causes colloidal particles to convectively transport toward the contact line of an inkjet droplet leading to a nonuniform deposition of the colloidal particles. In this work, the self‐assembly of colloidal particles in a dual‐droplet inkjet printing configuration to produce a nearly monolayer closely packed deposition of colloidal particles that exhibits a colorful reflection are demonstrated. By controlling the ink surface tensions and jetting parameters, the wetting droplets (the second droplet) containing colloidal polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles quickly spread over the supporting droplets (the first droplet) upon impact. The well‐ordered deposition is achieved by tuning the solvent composition of the wetting droplets and functionalization of the PS nanoparticles to encourage a network formation among the colloidal particles at the air–droplet interface. The underlying self‐assembly mechanism is insensitive to substrates and can be applied to many other material/substrate combinations. Finally, the origin of the color generation is highlighted, and the potential of the dual‐droplet inkjet printing process is discussed for fabrication of optical devices.
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- PAR ID:
- 10056433
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Materials Interfaces
- ISSN:
- 2196-7350
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1701561
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.201701561
