Metallization of 3D Printed Polylactic Acid Polymer Structures via Radio-Frequency Sputtering

Aktitiz İ., Darıcık F., Aydın A., AYDIN K.

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance, 2024 (SCI-Expanded) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2024
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s11665-024-10387-9
  • Dergi Adı: Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, PASCAL, Aerospace Database, Applied Science & Technology Source, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Chemical Abstracts Core, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, Computer & Applied Sciences, INSPEC, Metadex, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: additive manufacturing, aluminum, metallization, sputtering, surface coating
  • Çukurova Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The metallization of polymer structures eliminates disadvantages such as low electrical conductivity, undesirable mechanical properties, degradation under different environmental conditions such as UV radiation and humidity, and poor thermal properties, thereby enabling the achievement of more functional polymer structures. 3D printing provides production flexibility by allowing the manufacture of polymer, ceramic, metal, and composite materials with any level of complexity and intricacy. This study aims to investigate the improvement of the drawbacks associated with polymers, by combining the advantages of polymers and metals through 3D printing and surface modification. The newly acquired features will offer researchers and users significant freedom in various applications. Polylactic acid was used to additively manufacture the polymer structures by using fused deposition modeling. Subsequently, the surfaces of polymer structures were subjected to surface treatment methods: as-printed, dichloromethane dipping, dichloromethane vapor, cold oxygen plasma, and sandpaper. The metallization process was completed using the RF sputtering technique with aluminum as the target material. To examine the morphological, structural, optical, and electrical properties of the metalized structures, various analyses were conducted, including scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy analysis, atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis, ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared (UV-VIS-NIR) analysis, contact angle measurement, ellipsometry analysis, and electrical resistance measurement. The results showed improvements in surface roughness due to the applied surface treatments. EDX and XRD analyses confirmed the presence of aluminum in the polymer structure. Electrical conductivity values of 0.32 × 106S m−1 were achieved at a thickness of 1000 nm. Contact angles increased up to 91.728°.