1.15.07: EoPlex 'prints' tiny components
By Richard Koman - January 15, 2007
A fascinating technology story in this morning's SF Chronicle: Redwood City-based EoPlex is a startup with a proprietary secret sauce (literally) that manufactures complex miniature parts through a kind of printing process.
The company intends to mass-produce tiny gears and switches using a process that builds 3-D objects by layering materials on top of each other, over and over, until a third dimension takes shape. Think of a book instead of a poster.
The process is based on EoPlex's proprietary substrate - a toothpaste-like glue that can carry ceramic or metal particles for fabrication.
Imagine that the first pass of "ink" squirts out a square line that contains a metallic powder. This square blob is immediately hardened by a quick blast of ultraviolet light. Then the EoPlex technology prints a second layer of fluid inside and around the four hardened lines.This second fluid differs from the first. It does not have any metals inside. It has one purpose -- to create a flat surface upon which to print the next layer.
Thus, to build a box of any given height involves a repetition of these steps: lay down the next square layer of metal-bearing paste; harden it with ultraviolet light; fill and surround it with the next layer of empty goo; harden it up; and repeat until done.
In the final step the printed object is placed in an industrial furnace, where the real magic occurs. The goo, the ink, the carrier fluid evaporate completely -- leaving behind only the metal or ceramic that was deposited in those alternating steps.
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