Inkjet printing of functional materials is being heavily investigated for potential applications in fields as diverse as flexible electronics and tissue engineering, as well as more traditional graphics applications. Whatever the application, for a successful print it is necessary to repeatably generate a series of identical droplets under control of a digital signal. The process of forming a droplet is a complex interplay between the properties of the fluid being printed, and the propagation of a pressure pulse through the liquid as driven by a piezo actuator, all of this occurring at extremely high strain rates (~10^5-10^6 s-1). With the use of an increasing array of functional fluids, optimising the fluid properties to enable reliable jetting of identical droplets is becoming ever more critical. This project will look at the design, build and validation of a method and apparatus for characterising the high strain rate rheological properties of nominally printable test fluids.
Undergraduate
None
Mechatronics Design & Build (201.553, Lab)