3D Printed Electronics with Material Properties Engineered for Cold Survivability

A Survivability and Volume Constraint Challenge: Scalable Additive Manufactured Electronics (AME) and Explorations of Strain Management Solutions. The innovation we propose is a high throughput AME process using Materials Jetting (MJ) and Reactive Inkjet Printing of Electronics by Chemical Solution Deposition (RIPE-CSD) technologies to additively fabricate flexible, non-planar, and multimaterial advanced electronic circuits and devices engineered to survive extreme cold temperatures and meet Size, Weight and Power-Cost (SWaP-C) demands of space missions. This innovation leverages the layer-by-layer nature of 3D printing to pattern composite electronic materials with tailored thermal and mechanical properties allowing for robust and reliable performance in the extreme cold of space missions and temperatures potentially found on interplanetary or lunar missions (-180 °C). These tailored properties will mitigate the mechanical stresses at the interface of different materials making up electronic materials. Market Opportunity. The technologies being proposed will demonstrate the benefits of the Enova team leveraging high expertise in deep research into compatible materials for these specialized environments, multiple techniques for combining materials to support complex additive manufacturing, and advanced acceptance and qualification testing techniques developed by the UTSA researchers being leveraged for this effort.

Requirements include NASA JPL interplanetary missions, NASA multi-center Artemis-related electronics packages supporting volume constrained systems traveling and operating in severe environments. with the need to incorporate higher density of parts in severe environments. This creates a need for more efficient utilization of available volume in highly constrained 3 dimensional spaces. Specific concerns over the reliability and scalability of Additive Manufactured Electronics will be addressed through high expertise in our proposed Reactive Inkjet Printing of Electronics by Chemical Solution Deposition (RIPE-CSD), addressing both material selection to minimize coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatches, as well as defining adhesion properties with the NASA proposed substrate materials (Al 6061 and Ti-6Al-4V). Similar requirements for Space Force and rapidly growing commercial space enterprises will continue to drive the need to incorporate higher density of parts in severe environments, creating the need for more efficient utilization of available volume in highly constrained 3 dimensional spaces.

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