COLLEGE PARK, MD – Tomorrow CALCE is offering a webinar on 3D printing as a viable method for repairing electronic components.

Chris Riso, Ph.D. student and graduate research assistant, will demonstrate the repairability of simple RF circuitry. The baseline test coupons are microstrips and coplanar waveguides where damage is intentionally introduced into error-seeded specimens. Then repair methods are developed through AM techniques. The repaired coupons undergo thermal cycling for reliability assessment concurrent with pristine baseline samples to validate the performance of the repaired samples.

Next, the repair of a complex 3D micro solenoid inductor, fabricated on a 5-axis aerosol jet printer will be presented. This 3D device has multiple vulnerable areas prone to failure due to stress concentrations caused by the component architecture. In fact, one of the fabricated test specimens was found to have failed shortly after fabrication. AM repairs were able to restore the complex structure to the original RF performance, both in the interconnects as well as on the curvilinear core.

Reliability of these AM repairs is investigated by exploring the effect of accelerated thermal cycling tests on the RF performance. RF performance of these test specimens are modeled before and after AM repairs, using multi-physics finite element analysis of the electromagnetic performance and the thermo-mechanical stress fields. The end goal is to quantify the effect of thermal cycling damage accumulation and combine the test results with modeling insights to formulate acceleration factors that can estimate the expected lifecycle reliability.

To register, visit https://tinyurl.com/m4a7f5z8.