Resilient Hybrid Electronics for Extreme/Harsh Environments

The success of future innovative technology relies upon a community with a shared vision. Here, we present an overview of the latest technological progress in the field of printed electronics for use in harsh or extreme environments. Each chapter unlocksscientific and engineering discoveries that will undoubtedly lead to progression from proof of concept to device creation.

The main topics covered in this book include some of the most promising materials, methods, and the ability to integrate printed materials with commercial components to provide the basis for the next generation of electronics that are dubbed “survivable” in environments with high g-forces, corrosion, vibration, and large temperature fluctuations. A wide variety of materials are discussed that contribute to robust hybrid electronics, including printable conductive composite inks, ceramics and ceramic matrix composites, polymer-erived ceramics, thin metal films, elastomers, solders and epoxies, to name a few. Collectively, these materials and associated components are used to construct conductive traces, interconnects, antennas, pressure sensors, temperature sensors, power inducting devices, strain sensors and gauges, soft actuators, supercapacitors, piezo ionic elements, resistors, waveguides, filters, electrodes, batteries, various detectors, monitoring devices, transducers, and RF systems and graded dielectric, or graded index (GRIN) structures. New designs that incorporate the electronics as embedded materials into channels, slots and other methods to protect the electronics from the extreme elements of the operational environment are also envisioned to increase their survivability while remaining cognizant of the required frequency of replacement, reapplication and integration of power sources. Lastly, the ability of printer manufacturers, software providers and users to work together to build multi-axis, multi-material and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) integration into user-friendly systems will be a great advancement for the field of printed electronics.

Therefore, the blueprint for manufacturing resilient hybrid electronics consists of novel designs that exploit the benefits of advances in additive manufacturing that are then efficiently paired with commercially available components to produce devices that exceed known constraints. As a primary example, metals can be deposited onto polymers in a variety of ways, including aerosol jetting, microdispensing, electroplating, sintering, vacuum deposition, supersonic beam cluster deposition, and plasma-based techniques, to name a few. Taking these scientific discoveries and creatively combining them into robotic, multi-material factories of the future could be one shared aim of the printed electronics community toward survivable device creation.

Dr. Amanda Schrand currently serves as a Senior Engineer and Group Leader for the development of resilient, hybrid additively manufactured electronics at the Munitions Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. She is the Principal Investigator for several Cross Service efforts on 3D printed conformal antennas, frequency selective surfaces, precision electrodes for fiber waveguides, pressure/temperature sensors, strain gauges and high voltage circuits to name a few. Her efforts in ceramics printing innovation have resulted in 2 patents with commercialization and licensing of the technology. Dr. Schrand received her doctoral degree (2007, GPA 4.0) in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Dayton with the dual support of the Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute (DAGSI) and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) fellowships. She has fostered a multi-disciplinary career over the past 20 years to gain experience in a range of medical, science and engineering fields. Her written work has been published in many professional venues including Nature Protocols and her article on Additive Manufacturing in Defense is listed as required reading for the Air War College. She has been honored by many individual and team awards including the Team Eglin Women’s History Month Trailblazer award recognizing her contributions to leadership and mentorship. She is an active member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) professional society and recently began chairing the Women’s Panel on Career Development in RF Technology in addition to an International forum on Women in Additive Manufacturing in Italy and proposed collaborative work with the UK.

Mr. Larry (LJ) R. Holmes Jr. is the Executive Director of Research and Engineering at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, where he leads the development and operation of an Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute. The mission of this academic institute is to create an interdisciplinary forum for bringing materials, processing, and manufacturing together by digital design and innovative manufacturing methods. Mr. Holmes left federal service in 2018 after 15 years at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL). His final posting at ARL was the Director of Research Partnerships and Communication for the ARL Center for Agile Materials Manufacturing Science (CAMMS). He was also the lead for ARL’s Hybrid Manufacturing research portfolio, including the management of materials and manufacturing science programs related to multi-material processing technologies for functional/multi-functional devices. Mr. Holmes is also the Director of Government Relations at nScrypt in Orlando, FL. nScrypt designs and manufactures high-precision micro-dispensing and direct digital manufacturing equipment with unmatched accuracy and flexibility. Mr. Holmes is also the Chief of Manufacturing at the Applied Science and Research Organization of America (ASTRO America). ASTRO America is a non-profit, non-partisan research institute and think tank dedicated to advancing public interest through manufacturing and technology.

Eric MacDonald, Ph.D. is a professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering and Murchison Chair at the University of Texas at El Paso and serves as the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies for the College of Engineering. Dr. MacDonald received his doctoral degree (2002) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He worked in industry for 12 years at IBM and Motorola and subsequently co-founded a start-up specializing in CAD software and the startup was acquired by a firm in Silicon Valley. Dr. MacDonald held faculty fellowships at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, US Navy Research and was awarded a US State Department Fulbright Fellowship in South America. His research interests include 3D printed multi-functional applications and process monitoring in additive manufacturing with instrumentation and computer vision for improved quality and yield. As a co-founding editor of the Elsevier journal Additive Manufacturing, MacDonald has helped direct the academic journal to have highest impact factor among all manufacturing journals worldwide. He has recently been involved in the commissioning of a second partner journal, Additive Manufacturing Letters, upon which he serves as the Editor-in-Chief. Recent projects include 3D printing of structures such as nano satellites with structurally-embedded electronics - one of which was launched into Low Earth Orbit in 2013 and a replica of which was on display at the London Museum of Science. He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, dozens of patents, one of which was licensed by Sony and Toshiba from IBM.  He is a member of ASME, ASEE, senior member of IEEE and a registered Professional Engineer in the USA state of Texas.