Selective Metallization of 3D Printable Thermoplastic Polyurethanes

TY - JOUR

T1 - Selective Metallization of 3D Printable Thermoplastic Polyurethanes

AU - Ryspayeva, Assel

AU - Jones, Thomas D. A.

AU - Khan, Sadeque Reza

AU - Nekouie Esfahani, Mohammadreza

AU - Shuttleworth, Matthew P.

AU - Harris, Russell A.

AU - Kay, Robert W.

AU - Desmulliez, Marc Phillipe Yves

AU - Marques-Hueso, Jose

N1 - This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the Grant Photobioform II under Grant EP/N018222/1 and Grant EP/N018265/2.

PY - 2019/8/14

Y1 - 2019/8/14

N2 - This article presents a selective metallization method for the newly developed 3D printable thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (TPU): FilaFlex®, SemiFlex™, PolyFlex™ and NinjaFlex®. Silver nanoparticles were fabricated in-situ by photo-reduction on the surface of TPUs and acted as catalysts for copper ion adsorption. This method demonstrates the successful fabrication of copper patterns on flexible TPU filaments. Furthermore, Polyflex™ and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filaments printed in the same part have been used to enable selective electroless plating directly on Polyflex™ material. Electroless copper deposited onto Polyflex™ has a sheet resistance of (139.4 ± 7.2) mΩ/☐ and a copper conductivity of (1.1 ± 0.1) × 107 S/m that is comparable to bulk copper. Copper-plated Polyflex™ interconnects were fabricated as a proof of concept demonstrators.

AB - This article presents a selective metallization method for the newly developed 3D printable thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (TPU): FilaFlex®, SemiFlex™, PolyFlex™ and NinjaFlex®. Silver nanoparticles were fabricated in-situ by photo-reduction on the surface of TPUs and acted as catalysts for copper ion adsorption. This method demonstrates the successful fabrication of copper patterns on flexible TPU filaments. Furthermore, Polyflex™ and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filaments printed in the same part have been used to enable selective electroless plating directly on Polyflex™ material. Electroless copper deposited onto Polyflex™ has a sheet resistance of (139.4 ± 7.2) mΩ/☐ and a copper conductivity of (1.1 ± 0.1) × 107 S/m that is comparable to bulk copper. Copper-plated Polyflex™ interconnects were fabricated as a proof of concept demonstrators.

KW - Thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (TPU)

KW - fused filament fabrication (FFF)

KW - 3D printing

KW - additive manufacturing (AM)

KW - hybrid-AM

KW - silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs)

KW - electroless copper plating

KW - FilaFlex®

KW - SemiFlex™

KW - PolyFlex™

KW - NinjaFlex®

U2 - 10.1109/access.2019.2931594

DO - 10.1109/access.2019.2931594

M3 - Article

SN - 2169-3536

VL - 7

JO - IEEE Access

JF - IEEE Access

IS - 2019

ER -