Re: VS: metallic polymers

From: EdGrenda@aol.com
Date: Tue Oct 28 2003 - 17:28:41 EET


In a message dated 03-10-28 01:48:34 EST, Martti.Huolila@tekes.fi writes:

<< Dear Ed and the list!
 
 This might be too old a thread to continue, but I'll still add this.
 
 Conductive polymers like polyolefins can be printed with epson printers
becasue they use piezo, not heat to dispense the droplets.
 
 Work in printing conductive polymers is being done by a relatively small
group of scientists who are not that familiar with RP.
 
 The link between printing a conductive ink and RP is so obvious that I
suppose most anyone of this list would make the connection if presented with
printing technologies.
 
 
 Mr. Martti Huolila
 Senior Technology Adviser
 Product and Production Technology
 Tekes
 P.O.Box69 (Kyllikinportti 2 B)
 FIN-00101 HELSINKI
 
 Tel: +358 10 521 5511
 Fax: +358 10 521 5904
 GSM: +358 50 5577 511
 email: Martti.Huolila@tekes.fi
 www.tekes.fi
 
 Tekes is the main public financing organisation for research and development
in Finland.
 
> -----Alkuperäinen viesti-----
> Lähettäjä: EdGrenda@aol.com [mailto:EdGrenda@aol.com]
> Lähetetty: 16. lokakuuta 2003 18:01
> Vastaanottaja: smith@vsba.com; rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi
> Aihe: Re: metallic polymers
>
>
>
> I don't know that anyone is applying classic inkjets to
> depositing conductive
> polymers, per se. There are viscosity issues, etc., but
> there are certainly
> a number of other ways that people are approaching this problem.
>
>>
Hi Marti:

Thanks for your response and pointing this out. After thinking about it, I
recall a number of groups that are exploring "classic inkjets" to lay down
conductive materials. I was really thinking "bubble jet" when I used the term
classic and not piezo. One of the more interesting is E Ink which is right up
the street from here. This is one of the companies involved in developing
so-called "electronic paper" display technology based on rotating tiny bi-colored
dielectric balls. (Those folks are out of MIT and there is another group on the
west coast that was spun out of work at Xerox PARC. Don't know what they're
doing, but very similar.)

Another company that had some interesting products I remember seeing a few
years back was Alps, I believe. They had a line of very high res printers that
squirted metallic inks in addition to the standard color complement. Nice for
greeting cards and the like. Might still be available for all I know. The
intent was not electrical, since this was an inexpensive consumer product, but
in so doing they had obviously solved problems of suspending metallic particles
and clogging.

Anyway, there's a great deal going on in this area and I'm only familiar with
the very tip of this iceberg. Much more could be learned with small effort.

Ed

Ed Grenda
Castle Island Co.
781-646-6280 (voice or fax)
EdGrenda@aol.com (email)

The Worldwide Guide to Rapid Prototyping
http://home.att.net/~castleisland/



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