New Com­po­si­te Ma­te­ri­als for Ad­di­ti­ve Ma­nu­fac­tu­ring - ECO­PRINT

Pro­ject sum­ma­ry

Ef­fi­ci­en­cy and re­lia­bi­li­ty of power-​electronics stron­gly de­pends on tem­pe­ra­tu­re. Gro­wing de­mands on mi­nia­tu­riza­ti­on of elec­tro­nic com­po­n­ents while en­su­ring ef­fi­ci­ent coo­ling and kee­ping pro­duc­tion costs low, rai­ses a need for new ma­te­ri­als and tech­no­lo­gies. The ECO­PRINT pro­ject ad­dres­ses this need by de­ve­lo­ping new metal-​polymer and hy­brid metal-​organic com­po­si­tes sui­ta­ble for Ad­di­ti­ve Ma­nu­fac­tu­ring (AM) pro­ces­ses. The main de­ve­lo­p­ment steps are func­tio­na­liza­ti­on of me­tal­lic and cera­mic fil­ler par­ti­cles by At­mo­s­phe­ric Pres­su­re Plas­ma or wet che­mi­cal pro­ces­ses, com­po­un­ding func­tio­na­li­zed par­ti­cles with high-​strength po­ly­mer ma­tri­ces, op­ti­miza­ti­on of fi­la­ments, mo­di­fi­ca­ti­on of 3D prin­ting ma­chi­nes and in­ves­ti­ga­ti­on of new ma­te­ri­al con­cept for high tem­pe­ra­tu­re sta­bi­li­ty. The ul­ti­ma­te goal of the pro­ject is to use the newly de­ve­lo­ped ma­te­ri­als in an AM pro­cess to de­sign low-​cost, high­ly thermal-​efficient heat-​sinks or coo­ling pipes of com­plex shape or on-​demand coo­ling so­lu­ti­ons.