Final Paper pdf 560KB

Independent Study On Creating Conductive 3 D Printed Polymers and Improving Their Strength

The research was launched to a group of students for investigating the possibilities of creating conductive 3 D printed polymers that can be used for electronic applications and for improving their strength while working in harsh environmental conditions. Students performed literature search in order to understand the recent technical progress in the 3 D printed area. They planned their research and worked under guidance with different advanced equipment to complete the task. The 3 D printed polymer specimens were manufactured by fused deposition modeling according to ASTM D790 standard and their mechanical properties were tested using a Mark-10 flexural testing equipment and a Taber reciprocal abrasion wear tester. In order to create conductive materials, silver coatings were deposited using DC high vacuum magnetron sputtering technique. The coated 3 D printed specimens were also sequentially exposed to UV radiation, high temperature and moisture according to ASTM G154 standard using a Q-Lab QUV accelerated weathering tester. The metallic thin films created conductive materials, improved the surface resistance of the substrate materials and enhanced the mechanical behavior of samples exposed to harsh environmental conditions. The research offered to undergraduate students the possibility to collect and analyze the data after performing different measurements, to organize and present their work to conferences.