Resilient Hybrid Electronics for Extreme/Harsh Environments

The success of future innovative technology relies upon a community with a shared vision. Here, we present an overview of the latest technological progress in the field of printed electronics for use in harsh or extreme environments. Each chapter unlocksscientific and engineering discoveries that will undoubtedly lead to progression from proof of concept to device creation. The main topics covered in this book include some of the most promising materials, methods, and the ability to integrate printed materials with commercial components to provide the basis for the next generation of electronics that are dubbed “survivable” in environments with high g-forces, corrosion, vibration, and large temperature fluctuations. A wide variety of materials are discussed that contribute to robust hybrid electronics, including printable conductive composite inks, ceramics and ceramic matrix composites, polymer-erived ceramics, thin metal films, elastomers, solders and epoxies, to name a few. Collectively, these materials and associated components are used to construct conductive traces, interconnects, antennas, pressure sensors, temperature sensors, power inducting devices, strain sensors and gauges, soft actuators, supercapacitors, piezo ionic elements, resistors, waveguides, filters, electrodes, batteries, various detectors, monitoring devices, transducers, and RF systems and graded dielectric, or graded index (GRIN) structures. New designs that incorporate the electronics as embedded materials into channels, slots and other methods to protect the electronics from the extreme elements of the operational environment are also envisioned to increase their survivability while remaining cognizant of the required frequency of replacement, reapplication and integration of power sources. Lastly, the ability of printer manufacturers, software providers and users to work together to build multi-axis, multi-material and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) integration into user-friendly systems will be a great advancement for the field of printed electronics. Therefore, the blueprint for manufacturing resilient hybrid electronics consists of novel designs that exploit the benefits of advances in additive manufacturing that are then efficiently paired with commercially available components to produce devices that exceed known constraints. As a primary example, metals can be deposited onto polymers in a variety of ways, including aerosol jetting, microdispensing, electroplating, sintering, vacuum deposition, supersonic beam cluster deposition, and plasma-based techniques, to name a few. Taking these scientific discoveries and creatively combining them into robotic, multi-material factories of the future could be one shared aim of the printed electronics community toward survivable device creation.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction to Printed Electronics. Chapter 2 Which Printed Conductive Inks and Interconnects Survive High G and Thermal Cycling? Chapter 3 Additively Manufactured Antennas for Aerospace Harsh Environments Chapter 4 Printed Pressure Sensors for Extreme Environments Chapter 5 Metallization of 3D-Printed Devices Chapter 6 Printing Electrically Conductive Patterns on Polymeric and 3D-Printed Systems Chapter 7 Direct Write Printed Electronics and Materials Synthesis Using Non-equilibrium Plasma-Based Techniques Chapter 8 Additively Manufactured Ceramics with Embedded Conductors for High-Temperature Applications Chapter 9 Considerations for Design and Manufacturing of Flex Devices and Printed Conductive Elements Chapter 10 Three-Dimensional Functional RF Devices Enabled through Additive Manufacturing