Support ink compositions and methods of use thereof in additive manufacturing systems

A method for fabricating a three dimensional additive manufactured electronics (AME) comprising voids using inkjet printer comprising:

• providing an ink jet printing system comprising:
• a first print head, operable to dispense a dielectric resin composition;
• a second print head operable to dispense a conductive ink composition;
• a third print head operable to dispense a support ink composition, wherein the support ink composition comprises at least one of:
• an acrylate polymer, oligomer, and derivatives thereof, wherein the at least one of the:
• acrylate polymer, oligomer, derivatives thereof are each pre-cured;
• at least one of:
• a pre-cured water-soluble copolymer comprising a backbone having aromatic and aliphatic monomers, and/or comprising two or more polymers having a backbone comprising aromatic or aliphatic monomers;
• a surfactant adapted to inhibit cross-linking of the pre-cured acrylate oligomers and/or derivatives thereof and the water-soluble copolymer;
• a photoinitiator (PI), wherein the ratio (w/w) between the water-soluble copolymer and the PI is between 1:1 and 4:1;
• a conveyor, operably coupled to the first, the second and the third print heads configured to convey a substrate to each of the first, second, and third print heads;
• and
• a computer aided manufacturing (“CAM”) module, in communication with each of the first, and second print heads, the CAM further comprising a central processing module (CPM) including at least one processor, in communication with a non-transitory computer readable storage device configured to store instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor cause the CAM to control the ink-jet printing system, by carrying out steps that comprise:
• receiving a 3D visualization file representing the AME circuit comprising the voids;
• and generating a file library having a plurality of files, each file representing a substantially 2D layer for printing the AME circuit comprising the voids and the substantial 2D layer printing order, wherein each layer comprises a dielectric ink pattern, a conductive ink pattern, and a support ink pattern on the same layer file and wherein the CAM module is configured to control each of the first, second and third print heads;
• providing the dielectric resin composition, the conductive ink composition and the support ink composition;
• using the CAM module, obtaining from the library the first layer file;
• using the first print head, forming the pattern corresponding to the dielectric resin on the substrate;
• using actinic radiation, curing the pattern corresponding to the dielectric resin representation;
• using the second print head, forming the pattern corresponding to the conductive ink representation;
• using at least one of:
• heat, and pressure, sintering the pattern corresponding to the conductive ink;
• before, or subsequent to at least one of:
• the step of forming and curing the pattern corresponding to the dielectric resin representation, and the step of forming and sintering pattern corresponding to the conductive ink representation using the third print head, forming the pattern corresponding to the support ink representation;
• using actinic radiation, curing the pattern corresponding to the support ink composition in the first 2D layer of the component comprising the voids;
• using the CAM module, obtaining from the library a subsequent layer file;
• using the first print head, forming the pattern corresponding to the dielectric resin in the subsequent layer file;
• repeating the steps of curing the pattern corresponding to the dielectric resin representation, to the step of obtaining from the library a subsequent layer file, to the completion of the printing of the substantially 2D layer files in the library;
• and
• removing the substrate, thereby fabricating the AME comprising the voids.