MORE | Spring 2021

Additive Manufacturing of Polymeric Material with Metallic Structures via Electrically Assisted Stereolithography

Metallic structures on polymer surfaces are gaining a lot of interest due to their unique applications such as ICs, antennas, and metamaterials. Most additive manufacturing (AM) can only fabricate 3D objects using non-heterogeneous materials, and how to fabricate the polymeric objects with controllable metallic structures is a critical challenge in AM. In this work, an electrically assisted mask-image-projection-based stereolithography was developed to control the metallic depositions on the polymer matrix composite for various applications. The research will deliver a novel AM process that can fabricate heterogeneous materials using a one-step process, which will promote multifunctional and multi-material AM research.