The Research Association 3-D MID e.V. is still looking for companies to accompany the project.
If you are interested, please contact the office. E-Mail to office
Research objective
Investigation of the influencing factors of thermally conductive fillers and their orientation on the flame retardant properties at different states of conditioning
- Development of compounds combining thermal conductivity and improved flame retardancy
- Knowledge of the essential influencing factors of the process-structure-property relationships as well as their interaction during injection moulding with regard to flame behaviour
- Findings on the influence of thermally conductive fillers on ignition and flame propagation
- Transfer of the developed compounds to the LDS process for the production of MID-structurable circuit carriers
- Low-cost, highly conductive elastomers for printed, flexible electronics
Desired research results
- Cost reduction in the production of flexible electronics
- Increasing the conductivity of flexible electronics
- Increasing the extensibility of flexible electronics
Innovative contribution of the intended research results
- Reduction of the particle concentration of the ink while maintaining conductivity
- Increase of the elasticity of the printed conductors through newly developed inks
- Establishment of an inexpensive manufacturing process for wearables
- Evaluation of the results through reliability studies
Solution to achieve the research objective
- Investigation of the printability of inks and conductivity of the resulting elastomers
- Production of flexible, conductive filaments for FDM/FFF type 3D printers
- Production of resistive and capacitive flexible tactile sensors
- Evaluation of application examples
- Detailed conception of the work and selection of materials
- Compounding of flame retardant materials
- Test specimen production and basic characterization
- Characterization of the fire behaviour
- Examination of the metallization of the test substrates
- Documentation
Feasibility and transfer of the results
An economic benefit for the companies, especially for SMEs and the companies involved in the Project Accompanying Committee, arises in the following areas:
- Manufacturers who already produce electrical assemblies can transfer the existing know-how to new components and combine high thermal conductivity and flame retardancy. The transfer of knowledge allows development time and costs to be kept low.
- The additional entanglement with MID technology also enables the development of new areas of application, such as in the railway or aerospace sectors, which place high demands on the flame retardancy of components.
- The flame retardancy of electrical components, which can heat up due to faults or in the worst case ignite due to sparking as a result of a short circuit, should play an essential role in order to maximize the aspect of safety, especially in applications close to people. This can be applied to almost all common components of MID technology.
- Other companies from the fields of mechanical engineering, vehicle construction, electrical engineering and chemistry, acting as service providers or suppliers, benefit directly from the growth of MID technology in the field of flame-retardant, thermally conductive materials.
Expected use of the envisaged research results in SMEs
- Use of the developed ink formulation in flexible electronics
- Development of new innovative product ideas through extended possibilities
- Winning new orders through better competitive position due to cheaper and more reliable inks
Expected contribution to increasing the competitiveness of SMEs
- Expansion of the product portfolio in the field of printed electronics
- Increasing the competitiveness of SMEs through cheaper inks
Expected industrial implementation of the FuE results after the end of the project
- Use of the inks for wearables
- Increased use of printed electronics by reducing ink costs
Research Institute
Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg
Department for Plastics Technology (LKT)
Head of the research unit: Prof. Dr.-Ing. D. Drummer
Am Weichselgarten 9
91058 Erlangen, GER
