Electric Field Assisted Direct Writing and 3D Printing of Low‐Melting Alloy
Yanhua Huang, Yang Cao, Hantang Qin
Abstract
Metal additive manufacturing plays a vital role in new generations of manufacturing. As one of the most used alloys, field's metal can be used in many applications such as mold fabrication, radiation shielding, and more. This research demonstrates the ability to fabricate functional parts using the field's alloy at the micron level. With the good thermal conductivity and low thermal negative thermal expansion coefficient, printing temperatures and printing speed are mapped for single layer printing at a given nozzle size for printing width and height performance stability optimization. Printing temperatures and printing speeds were optimized with the same evaluation criteria. Classic 3D printing challenges have been printed testing technology readiness including overhang, bridges, and infills. Varieties of 3D parts are fabricated and prove functional for computed tomography imagery marking tags and micro‐volume liquid capacitance measurements. It demonstrates that the capability of high‐resolution printing also improves the printing time efficiency when small features are not required.