Nanoparticle Enabled Additive Manufacturing

Nanoparticles have unique optical, thermal, chemical reactivity and phase transitions that can be used to enhance additive manufacturing processes. This can be used to fabricate nanoscale architected materials with superior mechanical properties due to material size effects. First, I will present a novel two-photon lithography resin that is used to print nanocomposites, nanoporous carbon and nanostructured silk. The key ingredients in the resin are metallic nanoclusters that serve as both photoinitiators and inorganic precursors, and have pressure-dependent optical properties. Nanocomposite honeycomb, octet and shell-based lattices are fabricated that have a combination of high strength per weight, energy absorption and recoverability beyond other nano and micro-lattices due to a unique strain hardening behavior. Then, I will present our development of a particle ink laser melting (PILM) additive manufacturing system, in which a colloidal nanoparticle ink is combined with a laser-powder bed fusion machine to enable low power printing of metals and ceramics. This is used to print conductive copper electrodes and piezoelectric elements directly on printed circuit boards (PCB).