Rapid printing across different resolutions, viscosities, and shapes

One of the challenges in printed electronics is the large gap between costly, high-resolution lithography, and cost-effective – but also less refined – printing technologies. A brand new and revolutionary technology has been developed that fills that gap and enables the next generation of manufacturing to start today.

Impulse Printing is a novel additive manufacturing technology that transfers high-resolution patterns through rapid surface heating. When the solvent at the heated interface reaches its boiling temperature, rapid gas generation leads to pressure build-up. This pressure causes the ink to transfer to the substrate at incredible speed. Impulse Printing has several unique features. It can deposit feature sizes ranging from several microns to many millimeters, with aspect ratios of up to 0.5. Since the ink is released from a surface, it does not experience any shear forces, which means a wide range of viscosities can be deposited. Impulse Printing can therefore solve common manufacturing challenges, including printing on any surface topology with inks of extremely high viscosity. Patterns can even be wrapped around substrates.

Impulse Printing is a non-contact and high-throughput technology, so it is compatible with large substrates, like roll-to-roll processes. It was designed to be user-friendly and to have a low cost of ownership. It can therefore be seamlessly integrated into many current manufacturing set-ups. What’s more, the solution reduces waste associated with current manufacturing techniques, as it consumes low amounts of power and utilises ink with the highest efficiency.