Electrospray pinning of nanograined depositions

An apparatus for fabrication of objects retaining nano-scale characteristics comprising;

• a material reservoir configured to hold a molten material, wherein at least a portion of the molten material includes a composition of grain growth inhibitor particles in a solution with a binding agent;
• a nozzle coupled to the material reservoir;
• a moving stage configured to move relative to the nozzle in three orthogonal dimensions;
• an object holder, part of the moving stage, configured to hold an object comprising successive deposition layers;
• an extractor electrode coupled to the nozzle, the extractor electrode configured to generate an electrical field, the electric field configured to extract the molten material from the nozzle to form a stream of droplets of nanoparticle size, the electric field configured to drive the droplets to the moving stage, wherein the extractor electrode is configured to generate a magnetic field, the magnetic field configured to limit dispersion of the stream of droplets;
• a profilometer configured to obtain profile data of the object;
• and
• a main control unit configured to control movement of the moving stage in response to the obtained profile data of the object, including moving the moving stage laterally with respect to the nozzle as the stream of droplets impacts the moving stage to form a current deposition layer of the object and moving the moving stage vertically with respect to the nozzle to maintain a target stand-off distance between the nozzle and a previous deposition layer of the object, based on profile data of the previous deposition layer.