Abstract
Additively printed thermoformable circuitry for In-Mold Electronics (IME) is getting tremendous research focus because of its numerous advantages: design flexibility, cost-effectiveness, weight reduction, and potential for seamless integration into structural components. This study uses a direct write printing technique to produce conductive FWR circuits using stretchable silver ink. A stretchable ink capable of thermoforming was used for circuit fabrication. Once the conductive traces were printed, SMDs were joined to the circuit using ECA. An impedance analyzer was used to examine the performance of the additively printed FWR circuit. Thermo-forming capable High Impact Polystyrene sheet and Polycarbonate substrates have been used for this study. The cross-section of the printed lines has been measured using white-light interferometry. The effect of the process parameters on the printed line resistivity has been studied. Optimized parameters from the printing process and sintering analysis are used to print FWR circuitry. The OrCAD software is used to simulate the FWR circuit. The simulated performance of the circuit is compared to the actual output of the printed thermoformed circuit. This work highlights the possibility of an additively printed FWR circuit in IME using a direct write process with thermoformable silver conductive ink and ECA.
