metal printing
prof_braino
Posts: 4,313
Did y'all see this? I wonder if one could print circuit traces with metal clay?
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/minimetalmaker-a-small-3d-printer-that-fabricates-with-precious-metal-clay
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/minimetalmaker-a-small-3d-printer-that-fabricates-with-precious-metal-clay
Comments
They weren't all that positive about it for circuit boards.
What I gleaned was the problem is it needs to be heat sintered to a substrate, probably ceramic, at something like 900F.
Ok, that may be feasible, but not simple.
I was thinking that an older technology of enamel on steel, something like on a refrigerator, could be done.
The printer first lays down an insulating enamel layer with holes to the steel ground plane. Then the conduction layer.
This process is repeated for a multilayer board. Then everything is melted together.
I was testing an all ceramic memory circuit once that had, as I recall, has 10 layers. My understanding was the ceramic layers, some with metal power conductive clays, were silk screened down. This was then sintered. Dozens of memory chips were finally soldered on top.
Anyway, I think the basic concept may have merit but needs a lot of work.
Duane J