3D printing liquid metal could offer a new range of flexible electronics | Hacker News Reader

3D printing liquid metal could offer a new range of flexible electronics

newscientist.com

40 pointsLibertatea9 comments

Full paper with annotations: http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1002/adma.201301400?

Meanwhile, http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57592867-1/3d-printing-w... has a video which I really recommend you watch. I don't often use the phrase 'mindblowing' but it applies here.

It's not exactly clear in the video, but the structures remain liquid at all times - unlike solder which solidifies on cooling.

A thin layer of semi-rigid oxide holds the liquid in place - like a conductive water balloon.

Very cool stuff, although it seems too delicate to me for any immediate real world uses.

Perhaps a layer of Parylene or some other type of vapor-deposited polymer could make the structures more durable, while retaining its flexibility?

The video link from anigbrowl noted these structures could be used in headphone wires and other such applications where flexibility and self-healing capability is critical.

I do also imagine an outer protective layer could increase durability and thus expand the range of applications. That layer could, in theory, be either more rigid or equally flexible.

slightly unnecessary use of an insect's face to support the "printed" structure.

I though the same thing, but apparently it had been killed earlier by a spider which was not an employee of the lab.

The way it behaves looks a lot like hot solder. I wonder if anyone has tried using a syringe based printer (with heated tip) to print 3d metal shapes.

Exactly my thought; my understanding is that conventional solder doesn't flow very well and that this has been a problem for printing circuits, but perhaps a little doping with this compound would alleviate that. Even if it's not up to commercial standards, it could be a great benefit for rapid protoyping.

Also, it means we're one step closer to Rep Rap!

A minor problem but you'd probably need some kind of mechanism to get rid of the "slag" that builds up if you keep the solder molten for a prolonged time. Or use a solder formulation that is less prone to this.

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