Seyed Morteza Mousavi - Researcher, Precision Manufacturing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Reza Movahhedy - Professor, Precision Manufacturing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

The first step in developing manufacturing processes is recognizing all parameters affecting the process and their effect levels. Printing conductive patterns via conductive inks on flexible substrates based on a cost-effective technique is necessary to develop the most current technologies. The present study investigates the effect of conductive path manufacturing parameters through contact printing, which is an inexpensive, flexible, and accurate production process. The conductive ink used in this study contains silver (Ag) microparticles while lower in price than other similar inks based on conductive nanoparticles. It is also an appropriate choice for manufacturing conductive paths of width ۳۵۰ μm and higher on flexible and inflexible surfaces. In this study, the Plackett-Burman design with seven factors in two levels is applied to examine the effect of manufacturing parameters. The ink type, print load, substrate type, contact time of the stamp, stamp pattern width, stamp pattern angle, and ink curing time are the parameters selected for more investigation, and the effects of these parameters on the electrical resistance of formed paths are studied. Results show that the ink type, substrate material, stamp pattern width, contact printing load, contact printing time, stamp pattern angle, and cure time, respectively, have the most significant effect on the electrical resistance of conductive paths. Also, the influence of cure time after ink curing is insignificant. By conducting a limited number of experiments in this study, the most critical parameters of the contact printing process that affect the electrical resistance of produced conductive paths are specified with reasonable accuracy.

Contact Printing, Conductive Pattern, Conductive Ink, Flexible Electronics